Chicken or egg? Global economic crisis or ideological retrenchment from welfare in three European countries

Abstract

As welfare states confront massive changes, these are often explained as inevitable by-products of the global economic crisis. However, many of the shifts in welfare ideology pre-date the crisis. As increasing numbers of European welfare states move towards neoliberal paradigms then this convergence is, in turn, having a marked impact on social work education and practice. Today it would appear that, to varying degrees, European social workers are driven by ever-growing managerialist objectives. Juxtaposed is the shift towards consumerism and individualism, which is manifested through various recent initiatives, including personalisation, self-directed support, ‘rehabilitation’ and ‘reactivation’. This article aims to situate European social policy and social work within a wider comparative framework, thus providing insight for an international readership. Specifically, the article outlines the nature of contemporary social work and its underpinning social policy in three European countries, namely the United Kingdom, Denmark and Germany.