This thesis focuses on the role of the Church of Scotland's Board of Social Responsibility in the development and implementation of social work policy in Scotland. The thesis deploys a case study methodology and interpretive research methods to generate understanding of the Board of Social Responsibility and its intended purpose as a service-providing voluntary organisation. Links between the Board of Social Responsibility and significant social work policy developments are identified to determine the changing influence of both local authorities and central government upon the scope of voluntary social work service provision. The thesis identifies a process of incremental social work policy development in Scotland that has operated to encourage the contribution of service-providing voluntary organisations. The Board of Social Responsibility is identified as having operated as Scotland's largest voluntary provider of social work services throughout the period under review and to have implemented a changing pattern of social work service provision: first shifting from an innovative to a traditional model of participation, returning to an innovative model, and then, finally, shifting towards a developmental model of participation. The source of this changing pattern of participation is identified as individual agency allied. to interpretations of the organisation's faith-based ethos. The significant role of the Board of Social Responsibility in the development and implementation of social work policy in Scotland is established as that of provider of a range of replicative, alternative social work services. This role is related to Scotland's wider voluntary sector to establish that views of social work policy development existing within the Board of Social Responsibility are not indicative of views existing within other voluntary organisations. The Board of Social Responsibility's particular pattern of participation is also recognised to be distinctive. Ultimately the thesis finds that the approving model of governance adopted by the Board of Social Responsibility's higher-order collectives means the Church of Scotland has not exerted a significant influence upon the policy environment that has grown to control and regulate the social work undertaken by service-providing voluntary organisations operating in Scotland between 1948 and 2000.

No description available.

This thesis examines the social welfare work of four Catholic Sisterhoods in Sydney in the late nineteenth century. The work of Catholic women religious is largely missing from Australian women???s history and the history of social welfare and social work in Australia. The present investigation seeks to add to knowledge of women???s agency in Australian society and to extend the knowledge of Australian social work history. The aim of the thesis is to understand what the Sisters were attempting to do in their work with the poor of Sydney and how they went about it. The emphasis is on understanding the Sisters??? work from their own perspective, particularly the values which underpinned their work and the resources and constraints which affected it. A qualitative, inductive approach is used in which the data are drawn mainly from the Sisterhoods??? narratives and other historical documents. The thesis does not aim to test particular theoretical propositions, but rather to contribute to a number of ???unfolding stories??? about the history of Australian social work, about women???s work in the public realm, and about the development of the caring professions The thesis argues that the social welfare work of four Sydney Sisterhoods had a number of characteristics which made it unusual for the time, and which constituted it as ???proto-professional???. These included the codification of the prescribed stance towards the poor, of methods of work, and a high level of expertise in administration and management. The Sisters??? approach pre-figured later social work in a number of respects including an inclusive and accepting stance, respect for the dignity of the individual, and a concern to develop individuals??? capacities and self-esteem. The professionalism of the Sisters??? work is shown to be related to features which were integral to Catholic women???s religious institutes and to their role and status in the Catholic Church of the day. The Sisters??? social welfare work did not ???evolve??? into secular, professional social work however. It is contended that reasons for this were related to developments in Australian society, the situation of the local Catholic Church and restrictions on membership of the Sisterhoods. The thesis has significance for bodies of knowledge on ???woman???s sphere??? charity in the late nineteenth century, the history of social work in Australia, and theory on the professionalisation of caring occupations.

Thesis (M. Th.(Practical theology))-University of Pretoria, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-92)

Thesis (M. Th.(Practical theology))-University of Pretoria, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-102)

Project report (D. Min.)--George W. Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-106).

Thesis (M. Div.)--Emmanuel School of Religion, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-76).

Thesis (M. Div.)--Emmanuel School of Religion, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [48]-50).

This thesis aims to explore the role of social practice in the production of space within an anthropological perspective. In particular I drew my empirical data from my fieldwork in the site of Banyabashi Mosque. Banyabashi Mosque is the only active mosque which is located at the very representative, cultural and commercial center of Bulgaria&rsquo / s capital city, Sofia. The historical background of Bulgaria together with its current socio-political situation as the country having the largest historically indigenous Muslim population among the EU member states and its geopolitical location make it an intriguing geography to study the dynamism of Islam in the European context. In regard with this socio-political background this study seeks to understand the transformation of meaning through spatial practice within the perspective of the congregation of the only mosque in Sofia, Bulgaria. It is a cultural and political expression itself as Islam in Bulgaria in its broadest sense is represented as part of daily interactions of everyday urban life. Seeing the built environment as a system of conjoining parts, looking at the spatial practices and the established relations through the site of Banyabashi Mosque this study aspires to provide a perspective on having a better insight on the causal relationships between power, society and culture. In the pursuit to reveal the production and reproduction of power relations, difference, identities and their maintenance this thesis puts Banyabashi Mosque in the center of the study as a meeting point where all those relations manifest themselves through spatial practice and discourse.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Boston, MA, 2003. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 163-170).