The rhetoric of participation has always had a strong appeal to social workers and welfare service practitioners, since it resonates with the social work mission of empowering the service users and supporting their self-determination. Being a central element of the democratic process, participation also promises to forestall marginalisation of the underprivileged sector of society through inclusive decision-making. However, as the editors of the book admit, participation is a ‘complex and multidimensional concept’ (p. 277), the meaning of which is often ‘diffuse and confusing’ (p. 9). Contributions included in this edited book well illustrate the complexity of ‘participation’ as a guiding concept for making welfare service policies, or as a practice principle in welfare service provision. Focusing on participatory practices and policies of participation in European countries, the various chapters in the book uncover multiplicity in the definition of participation. Participation of the welfare service users can be taken as a tool for productivity with an emphasis on self-responsibility, or as a democratic value emphasising the social rights of the citizens (p. 106). The participation discourse also shifts between ‘a positive discourse promoting civil dialogue and effective inclusion’, and ‘a constrained call for stronger political leadership that emphasizes reciprocity and collective responsibility’ (p. 137). Ambiguity of the participation discourse is a cause for caution in scrutinising how participation is connected to marginalisation or its mitigation in the provision of welfare services.

Ostensibly, the diverse emphases in defining participation are informed by different welfare service rationalities. In the introductory chapter of the book, Matties neatly summarises the core characteristics of the popular welfare service rationalities, their respective options of participation and the corresponding risks of marginalisation (pp. 12‒13). Ranging from ‘traditional welfarism’ to ‘participatorism’, the different welfare service rationalities have differing tools of welfare services, all of which can induce risk of marginalisation in the name of participation. The policies of participation and participatory practices included in the subsequent chapters illuminate that participation is a double-edged sword if not handled with criticality. Even with radical ‘participatorism’, which clearly supports using participative methods in the service systems in the fight against poverty and injustice, inclusion of the marginalised groups in consultative or policy-making arenas can serve to legitimise government policy and facilitate co-optation rather than highlighting oppositional voices to advance social change (Chapter 11). Whilst these policies of participation and participatory practices promise engagement and inclusion of the marginalised groups in decision-making for welfare services, they can also be taken up as a tool for governing at a distance. Since the process of participation or marginalization is embedded in each of the rationalities (p. 12), the readers would benefit from more direct reference to these welfare service rationalities in the case discussions that follow.

From a ‘sociopolitical and social work-focused perspective’ (p. 19), the book exposes social work students and welfare service practitioners to a wide array of participatory methods and policies of participation in different European countries, and enables critical analysis of the role of the welfare state in mitigating marginalisation. The cases that are discussed in the book vary from participation in neighbourhood regeneration programs (Chapter 10) to charity-based food delivery (Chapter 12), among organised group of poor people (Chapter 11), low-income youth (Chapter 14) as well as people with severe impairments using personal assistance (Chapter 15). Variety in the coverage of marginalised groups and methods of participation highlight the multi-dimensional nature of participation, as the participation agenda popularises in the welfare service sector. With a focus on social work, the book also includes discussion of the relationship between social workers and the welfare service users in participatory practices (Chapter 13), and the involvement of service users in social work education to generate a more equal and productive relationship between the social workers and the welfare service users (Chapter 16). In the concluding chapter, Uggerhøj employs the multi-level framework familiar to social workers to connect the various case studies that have been included in the book. Analysis at the macro, meso and micro levels brings the socio-political conditions, social interactions within the welfare system and individual factors together in an understanding of the relationship between participation and marginalisation in the provision of welfare services. This multi-level analytic framework echoes the systemic perspective that has been influencing social work practice, and highlights the necessary collaboration among policy-makers, service administrators, frontline practitioners, social work educators and researchers in supporting participation and preventing marginalisation.

The chapters in this book on the policies of participation in European countries stimulates critical reflection of the participation rhetoric in welfare service provision, and exposes the fragility of the participation process. The participation agenda in welfare service provision is picking up momentum in the Asian region (such as Hong Kong). I hope to see similar collection from the Asian region to allow cross-cultural comparison of participatory practices in the provision of welfare services.