Parton, Howe and Postmodernity: A Critical Comment on Mistaken Identity

Correspondence to Carole Smith, School of Social Work,, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, Dover Street Building, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL Summary In their contributions to the debate about social work, modernityand postmodernity Parton(1994) and Howe (1994) argue that therecent changes in social work practice can best be understoodas features of, or responses to, the postmodern social orderin which it is located. This has led, they argue, to an increasingfragmentation of the profession and an undermining of its formalknowledge base. We will argue here that, not only does suchan argument oversimplify the nuances of the ‘postmodernity’question, but it represents a misreading of the pressures affectingpractice at this time, which are more properly attributableto the operation of the discourses and ideologies of a particularphase of late capitalism and high modernity.     

Bereavement: the Contribution of Phenomenological and Existential Analysis to a Greater Understanding of the Problem

Summary Theoretical approaches to grief and mourning have emphasizedthe instinctual and biological elements of a person's responseto bereavement. The behaviour of bereaved individuals has thereforebeen interpreted on the basis of these theoretical models. Thispaper argues that an appreciation of the social context in whichbereavement occurs leads to a fuller understanding of observedresponses in such a situation. It thus emphasizes the socialnature of individuals rather than their biological make-up andprovides a theoretical frame of reference in terms of whichthis may be understood. Such an analysis also has implicationsfor the kind of help which is seen to be appropriate to theneeds of bereaved people. It is suggested that social workersshould develop a greater understanding of this approach andthat, on the basis of this, they would then have a particularrole to play in relation to this area of need     

Adoption Advice: A New Service

Summary In the summer of 1975, Barnardo's Yorkshire divisional officelaunched an adoption advice service for anyone with any problemsrelating to adoption. At that time there was no service of thiskind in operation and people with adoption problems had no focalpoint to which to refer for help and advice. The following articledescribes the thinking on which this project is based and describesthe type of problems with which the counsellor had to cope andthe necessary information and social work skills which wereneeded to assist the people using the advice service. This discussioncovers the period from the inception of the Adoption AdviceService to 31 December 1975.     

A Defence Against the Public? Aspects of Intake in a Social Services Department

Summary This paper looks at certain aspects of a social services department'sduty and intake systems in the light of the theory of institutionaldefence. This theory, which has to do with the way that organisationsdeal with anxiety provoking events, is described, and a numberof ‘defences’ are identified and discussed.