The COVID-19 pandemic has sped up the pace of the digital transition process in which we have been immersed.In a context of generalized lockdown, our organizations have been forced to go digital and many of the activities social workers perform must now be done remotely.As a result, e-social work, or digital social work, has gone from being an emerging specialization to a critical specialty across organizations and activities.In this article, we examine some basic scientific and methodological foundations to develop a science of social work from the perspective of critical realism, with special attention to digitalization.Establishing the scientific foundations of digital social work is a preliminary step for its development as a field of specialization.

"Social work with people with learning difficulties: making a difference." European Journal of Social Work, 22(1), pp. 176–177

"Families and poverty: everyday life on a low income." European Journal of Social Work, 20(4), pp. 613–614

"Social work practice to the benefit of our clients: scholarly legacy of Edward J. Mullen." European Journal of Social Work, 20(4), p. 616

Social work has a long-standing identity problem. Is it a profession of art or a profession of science? Clarity on the matter of its identity has profound implications for the nature and form that ...

further brought in (chapter 14) by presenting the findings from the YIPPEE project (Young People in Public Care: Pathways to Education in Europe; http://ec.europa.eu/ research/social-sciences/projects/445_en.html). In brevity, we know what to do, but it is not done—save as an exception. The collection is highly recommended. The issue is extremely important, the articles very interesting (for some readers perhaps even provocative), and the message is more acute than ever. The collection is useful and useable not only in higher education but for professionals, parents, and politicians as well.

For decades, the social policy debate has been dominated by conservatives*the ‘right’. The decline of the intellectual left, noted by Simpson and Connor (p. 70) opened a serious gap in sources to which left-oriented social workers could turn for information and support of their arguments. Simpson and Connor have made a major contribution to filling that gap. Social Policy for Social Welfare Professionals is a systematic, thoughtful, accessible and passionate call for social workers to move far beyond mere service delivery and to engage in social change. The book is organized into four parts which orient the reader to major issues in service provision, societal structures that influence such provision, relevant theoretical considerations and finally, a plan for individuals and collective commitment to change. A central theme throughout the book emphasizes the political nature of social policy and, as a consequence, of social services. Using many useful illustrative examples, the authors argue that the present social policy is dominated by conservatives. The ability of the right to dictate social policy flows from their skill at defining ‘problems’, the cast of characters involved in them, and ultimately, the social policies for dealing with the problems. Through their control of government, a major objective of conservatives is that of ‘reining in the bottom level . . . rather than curtailing . . . excesses at the top’ (p. 65). The poor and powerless are studied incessantly about their condition, their behavior and their responsibilities while the References

s database. The Social Work Abstracts database contains peer-reviewed papers published for years 1964 to 2010. The following terms alluding to feminization as cultural tradition were searched by the author: men (3,861), women (7,402), mothers (3,680), fathers (1,500), husbands (631), and wives (790). The results indicate that papers published on men were only 52% (52.16) of those published on women. Papers published on fathers were only 41% (40.76) of those published on mothers. Papers published on husbands were only 80% (79.8) of those published on wives. Such disparities reflect cultural traditions which influence social welfare agencies to prioritize services and resources commensurate with the feminization of social welfare, not exclusive of domestic violence. A Brief Overview of Domestic Violence A brief overview of domestic violence can also be gleaned from the databases pertaining to papers published. One of the largest data bases is Proquest, which contains scholarly papers written from 1894 to 2010. To assess the issue of domestic violence, the author searched the following terms: male batterer; female batterer; male perpetrator; female perpetrator; male victims; female victims; women victims; men victims; violent men; violent women. The results are presented in table format

Social work has a one hundred year tradition of preparing practitioners for service at the international level as well as at the national and local levels. The challenges presented by this responsibility have been daunting. Consider the permutations and combinations possible in academic programs that educate at three levels (i.e., baccalaureate, master’s doctoral), as well as in four practice concentrations (i.e., casework, group work, community organization and administration), as well as for service in several targets (i.e., local, national, regional and international), as well as for work under a variety of auspices (e.g., public, private, non-governmental non-profit). The international aspect of social work education has received considerable attention during certain particular eras in the 100 years of the profession’s lifetime and during these times, social workers also have been quite politically active in pursuit of global objectives. For example, the Nobel Peace Prize was not awarded to Jane Addams in 1931 for her pioneering work in the settlement house movement, but for her contributions to the world-wide disarmament movement. After World War II in 1945, social work educators traveled throughout the world providing technical assistance to countries in establishing or reviving programs of social work education in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and to a less extent, in South America (Kendall, 2000). The American model of education dominated new programs around the world because the Americans were the most active in developing social work education programs; in addition, the United States was the only country with sufficient resources to mount the effort necessary to initiate or to re-kindle the programs

Professor; School of Social Work; Hunter College of the City University of New York; New York, New York

Findings of this study show that the lowest-and middle-income households overall and those with children had lower total effective Federal tax rates during the Clinton administration than during the Reagan and G.H. Bush administrations.Concomitantly, the top one percent and highest income quintile households overall, those with children, and those headed by an elderly person age 65 or older without children had higher total effective Federal tax rates during the Clinton administration.Nearly every category of household type and income level measured in this study had more after-Federal-tax income during the Clinton administration than either the Reagan or G.H. Bush administrations.The study also found that the shares of after-Federal-tax income were equitable across the three presidential administrations for the lowest-income quintile households with children, while the share of after-Federal-tax income for middle-income quintile households with children actually declined during the Clinton administration.The study concludes by noting that where it counts most for individuals and families, namely in the amount of after-tax money available to households, there were no differences by presidential administration during the post-Reagan era among low-income households and where differences were found for middle-income households, they were opposite what more liberal or less centrist-left Democrats would have hoped for.

Book review of Gertrude Schaffner Goldberg and Marguerite Rosenthal (Eds.), Diminishing Welfare: A Cross National Study of Social Provision. Westport, CT: Auburn House, 2002. $28.00 paperback.