The Future of Social Work: Seven Pillars of Practice

Abstract

 I am pleased to write this review for the Journal of Psychiatric Social Work. Dr. Brij Mohan, the author of this reveting book, is known for his contribution in Social Psychiatry in India. His findings appeared in professional circles after his prodigious research on the mental patients was published as Social  Psychiatry in India: A Treatise on the Mentally Il (Minerva, Calcutta 1973). He had published--and continued to do so vigorously--on mental illness both as a micro and macro-social problem. After he left Lucknow University, his primary focus of research has been on social policy, social work, social welfare and social development from the standpoint of a critical social philosopher. Many scholars have linked his approach to alienation and oppression as Sartrean, but this reviewer finds his contributions more as Foucauldian. From insanity to violence to human freedom and oppression,  his analyses are stimulating and challenging. The book embodies his philosophy on the human condition as a social work educator.