Author: Stuart Rees

Publisher: Columbia University Press

ISBN: 0231047649

Category: Social Science

Page: 154

View: 255

Against a background of pleas, both official and popular, for greater 'involvement', for more 'say' in their affairs for clients, consumers, recipients of all sorts, the author presents a dramatic picture of what really happens when Man meets Official: 'communication' emerges as the produce of half-articulated ideologies, preconceptions and ingrained social attitudes rooted in the past. As the data unfold, the obstacles to 'help' on both sides reveal themselves as part of the fabric of their societal context. Striking correspondences appear between the attitudes on either side of the counter and moral judgements, implicit or explicit, are seen to play a key role in the decision to seek, or to give, any form of support. Dr. Rees's many years of experience provide the basis for his proposals for improving social workers' training and agencies' organization of their resources. His 'cases', illuminated from both sides by verbatim transcriptions, give the book an impressive immediacy and a relevance which no reassessment of theories and priorities can afford to ignore.