The SAGE Handbook of Social Work

About

James Midgley is the Harry and Riva Specht Professor of Public Social Services and Dean Emeritus at the University of California Berkeley. Originally from South Africa he studied at the University of Cape Town and the London School of Economics and held academic appointments at both universities before moving to the United States 1985 where he served as as Dean of the School of Social Work and Associate Vice Chancellor for Research at Louisiana State University. He accepted the appointment as Specht Professor and Dean of the School of Social Welfare Berkeley in 1997. He has published widely on issues of social development social policy social work and international social welfare. His major books include Professional Imperialism: Social Work in the Third World. Heinemann 1981; Social Security Inequality and the Third World Wiley 1984; Comparative Social Policy and the Third World Harvester 1987 (with Stewart MacPherson); The Social Dimensions of Development: Social Policy and Planning in the Third World Gower 1989 (with Margaret Hardiman); Social Development: The Developmental Perspective in Social Welfare Sage 1995; Social Welfare in Global Context Sage 1997; Social Policy for Development Sage 2004 (with Anthony Hall) and Social Development: Theory and Practice Sage 2014. In addition he has edited or co-edited many books on international social welfare and social development. Among the most recent are Social Work and Social Development: Theories and Skills for Developmental Social Work Oxford University Press 2010 (with Amy Conley); Social Policy and Poverty in East Asia: The Role of Social Security Routledge 2010 (with K. L. Tang); Grassroots Social Security in Asia Routledge 2011 (with Mitsuhiko Hosaka); Colonialism and Welfare: Social Policy and the British Imperial Legacy. Edward Elgar 2011 (with David Piachaud); Planning and Community Development: Case Studies. Madrid: Technical University of Madrid GrupoGESPLAN-UPM 2012 (with Adolfo Carzola); Social Protection Economic Growth and Social Change: Goals Issues and Trajectories in China India Brazil and Africa. Edward Elgar 2013 (with David Piachaud); Social Protection in Southern Africa: New Opportunities for Social Development. Routledge 2014 (with Leila Patel and Marian Ulricksen) and Social Policy and Social Change in East Asia. Lexington Books 2014 (with James Lee and Yapeng Zhu). He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare and holds Honorary Professorial appointments at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa Nihon Fukushi University in Japan Sun Yat-sen University in China and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.   In 2008 Stephen Webb was appointed from the University of Sussex UK to the University of Newcastle. He is Professor of Human Sciences and Director of the newly established Research Institute for Social Inclusion and Wellbeing (RISIW). Professor Webb is one of the worlds leading international researchers in the field of human services Social Policy and is a pioneer of evidence-based practice research. His influential international research and publications since the late 1980s have significantly enriched the field of human services research by bringing innovative theoretical and methodological perspectives to the evaluation of social interventions and professional practice. His 2006 book Social Work in a Risk Society is widely acclaimed by international reviewers as demonstrating advanced scholarship and integrating sociological analysis to construct new conceptual and methodological frameworks in social work. His 2001 publication: Some considerations on the validity of evidence-based practice in social work British Journal of Social Work 31 (1) pp.57-79 is the worlds highest cited social work (field 1607) publication and ranked as the most influential journal article in the discipline over the past decade (Hodge et.al 2011).