Social Work in Slovenia and Yugoslavia

Darja Zaviršek is Professor of Social Work and the Chair of the Department of Social Justice and Inclusion and the founder of the Center for the Study of the History of Social Work in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Ljubljana.

"A new chapter has been written in the history of European social work. This book is a rare and impressive testimony to a mostly neglected – or at least marginalised – part of it. Based on the specific case of Yugoslavia, it provides surprising insights into the pre-, peri- and post-socialist conditions and developments of social work. And on reading it one has to admit and acknowledge that this story is both more complex, and more exciting, than one might think. It may challenge prejudiced images of Eastern European landscapes of ‘the social’, not least from a gender perspective. With its poetic reflection of transformational processes, the book addresses crucial issues of social work and social policies that are at stake, right now." - Susanne Maurer, University of Marburg

• Introduction 1. The Noise of History: The Historiography of Social Work in Yugoslavia and Slovenia 2. The Ruptures and Continuities of “Social Work” on the Horizon 3. Finally Peace: Women’s Labour Heroism and the Socialist Welfare System in the Making 4. Socialist Social Policy: “From Each According to His Abilities, to Each According to His Needs” 5. Social Work Education in Socialist Yugoslavia: Opening of the Schools 6. Forgotten Pioneers: A High-Level Political Official, a Partisan Teacher, and a Communist Intellectual 7. Social Work Professional Subjectivity: Social Workers as Societal Agents 8. Socialist Social Work Is the Realisation of the Goals of Social Policy 9. Against the Method: “The Door to Life Had Not Really Been Fully Opened” 10. Child Protection and the Traces of Makarenko's Children's Collective in Yugoslavia 11. Coercive Care: Spatial Segregation, Education and Employment of People with Disabilities Conclusions: The Uniqueness of the Findings in Data and Approaches