Constructing Clienthood in Social Work and Human Services

This innovative book explores social work as a series of encounters - between clients and social workers, social workers, their colleagues and other professionals, and more widely between citizens and the state. Providing a variety of social constructionist perspectives on the idea of the 'client', it presents in-depth discussion of the roles, language and contexts of meetings between social workers and their clients. International contributors present discussion on categorization, analyzing 'roles', and reflexive practice. Drawing data from a variety of sources, including legislation, client files and transcribed dialogues with clients, the book employs methods such as ethnography and narrative analysis to illuminate new understandings of clienthood. Bringing together a rich variety of data, this volume forms an important contribution to major debates on the nature of social work. Challenging previously-held notions about clienthood, this book will be a useful and thought-provoking resource for social workers, policy makers, academics, researchers and social work students and trainers.