The Practice of Macro Social Work

I enjoyed reading this textbook for my macro-social work class. After an overview (first chapter) and three introductory chapters (2,3, & 4), the rest of this textbook delves into macro social work practice on three levels - the community, the organizational and the national/international levels. At the beginning of each chapter the author lays out the historical foundation for each of each of these tiers in macro-social work practice. The author informs the reader of HOW to practice macro-social work in each of these societal systems. I will use this textbook for furture reference if ever I need to practice social work especially at the community level as a guide on how a social worker can effectuate change and problem solving. This text is a useful reference for social work administrators and social welfare policy thinkers.

The field of social work is overwhelmingly oriented to clinically based counseling and psychotherapy. In agreement with Harry Specht and Mark Courtney, Brueggemann sees this as a wrong direction that the field of social work has taken. In this textbook, he advocates that social work return to its original mission--that of macro social work practice. Brueggemann defines macro practice in the most comprehensive way of any modern social work textbooks, as the"practice of solving social problems and making social change at the community, organizational, societal and global levels. He follows up this definition by dividing his text into four sections, each of which begins with a theoretical description. The first section, solving social problems and making social change includes provocative chapters on social problems, social problem solving, and social leadership. The following three sections each deal with community, organizaitonal and societal/global social work respectively. Community social work covers community planning, community development, and community organization. Organizational social work includes program development, administration and organizaiton development. Social work at the societal and global levels comprise chapters on social policy, social action and social movements, and international social work. The book also contains a wealth of resources in three appendices aimed at encourgaging students to get personally invovled in helping people and explore the field in more depth by means of computer ancillaries. Not only does the textbook explore the entire field of macro social work practice, but it does so in a way that encourages students to critique assumptions about modern society and about social work itself. It rejoices in the rich history of the social work profession and helps students understand its heritage. Finally, the author unswervingly asserts that social workers should "never do for others what they can do for themselves." This, Brueggemann asserts, is the iron law of macro social work.