Global Solutions and Local Needs: Transnational Exchanges in Post-War British Social Work

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the decades following the Second World War, and particularly within the context of the newly-formed welfare state, British social work was building a professional identity, albeit an often precarious one. Social workers in Britain recognised that an important part of this process was fostering proactive international relationships with colleagues in other countries. This existed alongside more reactive work with the immigrant populations who arrived in the post-war period. This article analyses how both forms of transnationalism had an impact on social workers’ professional identities, and how such encounters offer an insight into the everyday negotiation of transnational phenomenon.