Reciprocal relationships and wellbeing : implications for social work and social policy / [edited by] Maritta Törrönen, Carol Munn-Giddings and Laura Tarkiainen.

A sense of participation and opportunities to share and participate in activities or groups that are important to them are crucial factors in human wellbeing. This book provides a robust empirical and theoretical analysis of reciprocity and its implications for social work and social policy practices by discussing how ideas of reciprocity can be understood and applied to welfare policy and social care practices, as well as how the act of reciprocity supports the wellbeing of citizens.?Contributions from Finland, Germany, Russia, the UK, the USA and Canada illuminate the ways in which socio-political contexts influence the power relations between citizens, practitioners and the state, and the potential (or otherwise) for reciprocity to flourish. It will be essential reading for social care practitioners, researchers and educationalists as well as postgraduate students in social work and related social care and community-oriented professions and social policy makers.

Includes bibliographical references.

Introduction -- Reciprocity : theoretical conceptualisations -- Reciprocity and wellbeing / Antti Karisto -- Creating wellbeing through reciprocal relationships / Maritta Törrönen -- Reciprocity and normativity in social work : a complex relationship based on the capability approach / Bernhard Babic -- Reciprocity: practice and community settings -- Reciprocity in peer-led mutual aid groups in the community : implications for social policy and social work practices / Carol Munn-Giddings and Thomasina Borkman -- Revisions to client and professional self-categorisations during reciprocal support groups among the long-term unemployed in Finland / Laura Tarkiainen -- Risk and reciprocity in residential care : some problems with a universal norm / Claire Cameron -- Reciprocity and relationship-based approach in child welfare / Riitta Vornanen and Pirjo Pölkki -- Reciprocity : methodological and educational issues -- Reciprocity with graduate students fostered through creativity / Tuula Heinonen -- Narrative reflection as a reciprocal method / Eveliina Heino and Minna Veistilät -- Negotiating the research space between young people and adults in a PAR study exploring school bullying / Niamh ÓBrien, Tina Moules and Carol Munn-Giddings -- Reciprocal social work and social policy : conclusions.