1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910456457803321

Autore

Moffatt Kenneth James <1952->

Titolo

A poetics of social work : personal agency and social transformation in Canada, 1920-1939 / / Ken Moffatt

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Toronto, [Canada] ; ; Buffalo, [New York] ; ; London, [England] : , : University of Toronto Press, , 2001

©2001

ISBN

1-281-99598-3

9786611995980

1-4426-7040-1

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (167 p.)

Disciplina

361.3/01

Soggetti

Social service - Canada - Philosophy - History

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- Introduction -- 1. The Contested Concepts of Social Service and Social Change -- 2. Social Work Practice Informed by Philosophy: The Social Thought of Edward Johns Urwick -- 3. Dorothy Livesay's Politics of Engagement -- 4. Social Science in a Secular Society: The Thought of Carl Addington Dawson -- 5. A Scientific and Philanthropic Christian Community: The Philosophy of Charlotte Whitton -- Conclusion -- NOTES -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX

Sommario/riassunto

In A Poetics of Social Work, Ken Moffatt considers the epistemological influences in the field of Canadian social work and social welfare from 1920 to 1939. Here, modernist constructs of knowledge are explored through the analysis of the thought of leading social welfare practitioners, namely Dorothy Livesay, Carl Dawson, Charlotte Whitton, and E.J. Urwick. These four figures represent a wide cross-section of Anglo-Canadian social thought at two of Canada's most influential universities (McGill and Toronto), and Moffatt's study of their thinking reveals the presence of a diversity of approaches to social work and social change during this period.By challenging the notion that human



values and humanitarian concerns were abandoned in favour of science, empirical findings, and technical interpretation of authoritative knowledge, the author attempts to expand the concept of the social work knowledge base and explores how social work emerged as a profession in Canada. Moffatt's study presents a broad context for analysis, and provides fascinating reading and source material for those interested in history, philosophy, literature, and biography, as well as social work and the social sciences.