Social work literature often reflects powerful ahistorical tendencies. These tendencies have produced analyses of social issues that lack awareness of both the contemporary environment and the historical forces that shaped it. The lack of awareness of the relationship between historical and current events also contributes to the passive approach many students take to education and prevents students and practitioners from developing a critical perspective and engaging in politically informed practice. "For the Common Good" fills these historical and conceptual gaps through the presentation of an anthology of selected essays written by Dr Harold Lewis over the course of his distinguished 50-year career in social work (1945-1995). Long acknowledged as one of the intellectual leaders of the profession and as a scholar who was deeply involved in the social and political issues of his times, Lewis' insights into the nature and purpose of social work practice, the epistemology of social work, and social work values and ethics are still fresh and compelling. Over the course of his career, Dr Lewis published well over 100 scholarly articles and monographs.
Reisch has selected for this book those papers that best reflect Lewis' ideas and have the most contemporary relevance based on the three major categories of Lewis' work: social work practice and policy, social work values and ethics, and social work education.