Community Social Work: Communication in Chinese and Western Perspectives

Author: Yin Miao Zhong, Gao Jian Guo (editors)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: This is not an ordinary book on community social work, but rather a product of collaborative dialogue among over 20 Chinese and foreign social work scholars. We hope it provides a platform for academic exchange. During the writing process, the editors initially proposed several topics and invited one scholar from mainland China and one from overseas to separately offer opinions on each topic. One party wrote an article, which was then submitted to the other for targeted discussion. The latter could freely express their views based on their own experience and background. As editors, we integrated the perspectives of both scholars and conducted further dialogue on each topic. The purpose of the dialogue was to provide further clarification or organization on the relevant themes, aiming to stimulate in-depth thinking. This is an open exchange, and right or wrong, good or bad are not conclusions drawn by the authors and editors. Through sincere dialogue, this book reflects different opinions and voices, aiming to provide references for the development of community social work in China based on the principle of seeking common ground while reserving differences. The book includes 11 topics (chapters), which are divided into three main parts: , Community Social Work Theory; Second, Community Social Work Techniques; Third, Experiences in Chinese Community Social Work. We acknowledge that no matter how we categorize them, there will always be imperfections. The original intention in writing this book was to combine theory, practice, and the context of China. With the development of social work as a discipline in China, textbooks and monographs on community social work have already been published. We felt that writing another purely theoretical book would be redundant. In community social work books, how to handle the relationship between Western theories and Chinese experiences is a topic worthy of attention. We believe it is necessary to examine the application issues of Western social work theories in China in a targeted manner. Therefore, we invited social work scholars from China and overseas with different educational and cultural backgrounds and practical experience to introduce and comment on the theoretical knowledge of community work and its application in China.