ABSTRACT
In the early paragraphs of this chapter we develop the terms and implications of framing the book in terms of governmental forms – state socialism, democracies of differing kinds and varying authoritarian governments. We then look briefly social and cultural regimes – the power of elites, the role of civil society and the political and policy agenda that undergird welfare programs. We consider the example of migration patterns in illustration of some of these factors. We scan some of the key patterns of social change, especially in demographic terms and in relation to the role of women.
This will call for a stock-taking to suggest the relevance for understanding social welfare, social work and social work education. We develop something of what we know about how social welfare has developed in these contexts. This requires us to look at what may be said about the nature of social work as seen, for example, through the language used across time, from government to government and within the social welfare community.
We then respond to the book’s promise to say something about research and technology – in, from and for the region/s and countries. Finally, we ask whether and how it helps to think of an Asian, Southeast Asian or East Asian social work.
