Theorien für die Soziale Arbeit

The now second, updated and expanded edition of the textbook first establishes the importance of theory for social work research and practice After offering an outline of the historical development of theory in this field, it presents the most important theories used in social work at the moment. The book presents approaches related to systems theory, power and discourse analysis, and psychoanalysis, plus lifeworld-oriented and feminist approaches as well as those related to coping strategies and to a materialistic–dialectical theory of critical social work, including elements provided by the capability approach. It is rounded off by a systematic comparison of the theoretical approaches and an outlook on theory development in social work.

With contributions by
Maria Bitzan, Margret Dörr, Cornelia Füssenhäuser, Fabian Kessl, Michael Klassen, Michael May, Arne Schäfer, Silvia Staub-Bernasconi, Michael Winkler and Holger Ziegler.