Social Welfare and Social Development (2ndEdition)

Abstract

, the Director of the Centre for Social Development in Africa and Professor of Social Development Studies at the University of Johannesburg, offers a comprehensive and nuanced view of social welfare and social development in the second edition of her authoritative text. Her experience as a community worker, manager, policy maker and academic shapes the book, providing insights for the practitioner, researcher, teacher and government employee. In revising the book, Patel has taken considerable care to ensure that the discussion is located within a contemporary context. The current situation and recent events shaping the welfare environment have been carefully and elaborately explored. The book also provides a thorough history of the progression of social welfare in South Africa from colonialism through apartheid to the post-apartheid era. She adopts a critical eye, interrogating all stances, and identifying the advantages and disadvantages of each. She recognises the damage done by residual discriminatory policies, but also acknowledges the positive legacy regarding a state pension system, a diversified delivery system and a public-private partnership. She notes the ways in which subsequent changes have both benefited and eroded social care. Having situated social welfare in global, regional and local contexts, Patel examines the theoretical underpinnings of social welfare and social development. Her considered review of social welfare paradigms and the emergence of social development is relevant not only to a South African audience, but to any academic or practitioner wanting a fuller understanding of these issues. The examination of social development contributes enormously to the international academic debate on the nature of social development. Although this is a book directed at social workers, it has an interdisciplinary flavour, and this aspect should be appealing to the international reader.