Abstrakt
This introductory chapter reflects on the significance of the differences in the presentation of social work in various European countries for the future development of this discipline and profession and its contribution to the strengthening of social solidarity within and between European nations. Solidarity is being challenged by social policy trends that revoke the post-war welfare consensus, by demographic trends that put greater demands on social security provisions, by economic trends that prioritise profit over equality and not least by the Corona crisis which tests the integration of societies to the limits.
Europe is facing a fundamental political and social reconstruction task of considerable dimensions in which context the specific insights and competences developed by academics and practitioners in social work count centrally, particularly since they combine a universal scientific grounding with adaptability to specific historical and cultural contexts which the contributions of this volume testify. Social work has become an inalienable integrating force in the whole range of countries covered here whose history and internal conflicts represent a wide and paradigmatic range of interrelated conflicts.
Social work education needs to take up this diverse wealth of experiences for creating future-oriented study programmes.