Once again Lena Dominelli has produced a text of note that promises to be widely read and discussed by social work researchers, educators and their students. Timely and well-written, this thought-provoking book is a call for social workers to rise to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century in the interests of global social justice and human rights. Among the challenges of the day relevant to social work practice are the new bureaucratic managerialism and economic constraints at the agency level that restrict professional innovation and the structural inequalities at the societal level that impede human growth and development.

Social work, as is emphasised in this text, is a profession in a state of flux. Globalisation, fiscal crises stemming from global economic markets, the technological revolution and the impact of natural and human-made disasters are among the forces presenting major challenges for social work today. In the introduction, Dominelli sets forth the purpose of Social Work in a Globalizing World which is to argue that social work at its best is emancipatory practice and, as such, that it has an ethical responsibility to work toward the improvement of human well-being. A secondary aim of the book is to encourage debate concerning critiques about the inadequacies of mainstream practices historically in responding to the needs of the people. Although the emphasis of the book is on the state of the social welfare system in the UK, the framework is global in scope. Chapter 2 provides a history of the social work profession, from its founding in the first social work education course offered in the Netherlands in 1896 to its development in universities in the UK and the US. Throughout the history of warfare and economic and social crises, social workers were there to pick up the pieces. We read about this and about some early assimilationist practices that were a disservice to indigenous populations in various parts of the world. Social work became implicated in oppressive activities, often through religiously oriented organisations. The social services that were provided were means tested. In 1948, a major development ensued with the introduction of the National Health Service. Health care was now provided universally and regarded as a right rather than a privilege. Today, once again, under the influence of neo-liberal ideologies, the pendulum has swung away from acceptance of an entitlement-based welfare system. Attempts to destroy all vestiges of socialism are increasingly evident.

Chapter 3 takes us into the social terrain to an examination of the approaches that were taken by social workers historically to address the needs of people living in poverty. The task of social workers was to make a distinction between the deserving and undeserving poor as defined by law. Early social workers carried out a social control function as they focused on social problems related to poverty. Victim blaming was common as individuals were held responsible for their misfortunes. Founded in 1868, the Charity Organization Society tried to enforce middle-class norms on people in their charge. This development was important, according to Dominelli, in sowing the seeds for social work as a dependent profession. A second major development came in the form of the Settlement House movement, a development that was influential in setting the stage for social work's role in social and political advocacy. Today, the legacy of this movement is seen when social workers, individually and collectively, raise their voices against bureaucratic injustices and join people ‘who are on the breadline’ (p. 46) as allies. Through international organisations such as the IASSW (The International Association of Schools of Social Work) and the IFSW (International Federation of Social Workers), social workers are organising globally in a commitment to egalitarian values, social justice and human rights.

The impact of economic globalisation on the profession of social work is the subject of Chapter 4. That the internationalisation of social problems blurs the boundaries among nation-states is a major argument of this chapter. In the UK, the impact of pressures from the global market is resulting in a sense of disillusionment among members of the profession who are reacting to the ever-increasing demands of the job as caseloads expand enormously along with requirements for excessive paperwork. Service users today have been turned into consumers. Consumer choice, however, as Dominelli correctly suggests, is an illusion for persons lacking in the necessary funds to play the market.

Mass migration and immigration, which are major concerns for the countries of the world and the profession are discussed in Chapter 5. Such movements of people raise an important question about the rights of citizenship and if these rights should be automatically lost when persons enter the territory of another nation. Such rights, as Dominelli argues, should be retained by individuals wherever they go. If an individual has paid for entitlements in one country, such as into retirement plans, for example, the country of origin should honor these arrangements no matter where the person chooses to live. The message of this chapter in a nutshell is this: globalisation requires that we reconceptualise the notion of citizenship.

Environmental sustainability is the subject of Chapter 6. This chapter is an important addition to the book and consistent with the person-in-environment emphasis of social work education. We learn from this discussion on human degradation of the impact of short-sighted economic policies on all peoples of the world and of the link between poverty and social and environmental degradation. Boxed readings on climate refugees and refugees from domestic violence highlight the chapter. The sections on indigenous worldviews and approaches to climate change show us that citizens from the Global North have much to learn from practice innovations and traditions from the Global South.

To what extent does globalisation benefit the poor people of the world? This is the major issue tackled in Chapter 7. ‘Globalization’, as Dominelli informs us, ‘is a two-edged sword’ (p. 129). While labour mobility has enriched the social work profession and globalisation has opened up many opportunities for the development of interconnectedness, some of the influences of Western social work models and forms of practice have been inappropriately adopted by emerging democracies. Such practices need to be reevaluated. Dominelli warns in this chapter and in her concluding comments against the tendency for Western educators to strive to transport their variety of social work into Eastern Europe and other countries without attending to historical and cultural contexts and the right of people to change their lives on their own terms. Social work models need to be tailored to the norms and values of the particular cultures and countries.

Taken as a whole, Social Work in a Globalizing World offers a timely critique of the profession and provides clearly articulated suggestions for dealing with the challenges imposed by economic crises and the increasing global interdependence of today's world. Among the recommendations provided are that social workers develop a more rigorous research base and that they strive to reclaim the territory for social work practice that is currently under threat in the UK and elsewhere related to cutbacks in government funding and declassification schemes. An important message of the book is that the social work profession can be enriched through the transfer of knowledge from indigenous populations. We can learn from the Maori people, for example, of the use of Family Group Conferencing to help in the care of children and from Native Americans of how the vision of the medicine wheel can enhance our work with people with addiction and other problems. Through providing such illustrations as these and through the numerous case histories presented, Dominelli points the way forward to an appreciation of social work as a global profession in an increasingly globalised world. Accordingly, this insightful and highly readable book will be of value to researchers, social work educators and social workers alike.