Social Work, the Americanization Movement and the Construction of Americans 1874–1930

This book analyzes the role of social work in the Americanization movement. It asserts that the emerging field of social work played a significant role in both the execution of the movement and the development and promulgation of theories and processes that rationalized its determination of the borders of inclusion and exclusion from the American nation and its polity.

While the Americanization movement as a national endeavor abated by the mid-20th century, its underlying assumptions still shape contemporary social work and the national discourses of belonging. As the first comprehensive historical study of social work’s role in the discourses of immigration, the book fills a significant gap in social welfare history.

This volume introduces an important new field of study for scholars of social work, as well as students and academics of social history, ethnic studies, and political science. It is suitable for courses on social welfare policy, social welfare history, and social work ethics, as well as those studying immigration and the history of ethnic minorities in the U.S.

Yoosun Park is an Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Ph.D. program in the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. Her award-winning scholarship aims to extend the borders of social work knowledge and inform the education of the next generation of social work practitioners and researchers. She is the author of Facilitating Injustice: The Complicity of Social Workers in the Forced Removal and Incarceration of Japanese Americans, 1941–1946.

Michael Reisch is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland. He is the author or editor of 40 books and monographs and hundreds of journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers on the history and philosophy of social welfare and social work. He is the recipient of the Significant Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council on Social Work Education and was elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare.