When Social Workers Impact Policy and Dont Just Implement It: A Framework for Understanding Policy Engagement (Research in Social Work)

Rather than being seen simply as social policy implementors, in recent decades there has been increasing recognition of social workers as professionals with unique knowledge and insights to contribute to policy formulation and social justice.

This book offers a path-breaking, evidence-based theoretical framework for understanding why social workers engage in policy, both as professionals and citizens, and the impact of their actions. Drawing on concepts from social work and the political, sociological and policy sciences, the authors set out the implications of this framework for research, education and practice.

​John Gal is professor and dean at the Paul Baewald School of Social Work and Social Welfare at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has published extensively on social policy in a comparative perspective and on policy practice among social workers.

Idit Weiss-Gal is an associate professor and Head of the Bob Shapell School of Social Work at Tel Aviv University. She has published extensively on the professional ideologies of social workers, on social work as a profession and on policy practice among social workers.