Revitalization of social work in China: the significance of human agency in institutional transformation and structural change

Drastic economic and social transition, emerging social problems, and emphasis of the Chinese government on social harmony as a national policy have created ample opportunities for the development of social work as a profession in the Chinese mainland1 1. In this paper, China refers to the Chinese mainland. in recent years. Besides the phenomenal expansion of social work education, the Chinese government announced a series of national policy initiatives in 2006 to professionalize social work and to assess the professional standard of social welfare personnel. But these achievements would never be possible without the commitment, perseverance and active engagement of the social work community during the past two decades to foster the development of social work in China. In this paper, the authors will present the four stages of development which the social work profession has undergone in China, and will discuss the role of human agency in facilitating institutional transformation and structural change in the process. The active agency of members of the social work community, including educators, Civil Affairs officials, and front‐line practitioners to resist the domination of environmental constraints and to co‐construct a social work profession which is appropriate to the Chinese context will be presented.

近年来, 急剧的经济及社会转型、日益涌现的社会问题及中国政府将建立和谐社会作为国策, 使社会工作在中国成为一个专业获得了空前的机遇。 除了社会工作教育的惊人发展外, 中国政府于2006年宣布一系列创新的国家政策, 推动社会工作专业化以及对社会福利服务人员的职业水平进行专业评估。 然而, 如果没有社会工作社群在过去二十多年来的支持、坚持不懈及积极的参与, 努力地在中国发展社会工作, 这些成就将永远不可能实现。 在本文中, 作者将描述社会工作专业在中国的四个发展阶段, 以及讨论能动性在推动制度转型和结构变迁方面扮演的角色。 作者讨论了社会工作社群的不同成员的积极的能动性, 包括教育工作者, 民政部官员及一线工作者, 如何应对环境制约的支配影响及建构一个适合华人社会为背景的社会工作专业。