Social Work and Social Policy : The Italian Case

This paper will explore the relations between social work and social policy in Italy. In the first part we will present a brief analysis of the role played in the past century by social workers in influencing social policy and establishing community-based social services, open to everybody and characterized by a non-discriminatory attitude. Some examples of the de-institutionalization process in different fields (e.g., mental health, children, disabled, elderly people) and how the socio-political engagement of the social workers influenced some very important laws will be discussed. In the second part, we will present some of the results collected in research involving 1,000 social workers in Italy, conducted in 2009. The aspects considered will be the work contexts the social workers operate in and the evaluations they give of the changes in regulations and organization now occurring in the social services. Finally we analyze how new trends at a political level, such as neo-liberalism and consequent managerialistic approaches are affecting social work practice. The paper utilizes data collected through a national research funded from the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research.