摘要：This is a book of great ambition edited by ShwetaSingh, including contributions from over 30 Indian and US scholars in the fields of social work, sociology, theology, philosophy and women's studies. As the title indicates, the book compares India and the United States' approaches to social work and social development. The book is divided into five parts, each of which contains an introduction and a set of chapters that cover the range of the underlying issues. Part one (Chapters 1-4) deals with the roots of social work. By exploring how different religions and philosophy of life have influenced social work in India, this part emphasizes the situatedness of the specifics of social work. Part two (Chapters 5-16) discusses the social development trajectory and its human and environmental consequences. To depict the developmental process and its various constituents, this part compares the Indian and US approaches, in which both rural and urban contexts are covered, and issues such as farmer suicides, human displacement, environmental protection and land grabbing are discussed. Part three (Chapters 17-23) focuses on family social welfare and corrections, covering gender-related issues such as child welfare and caregiving of the elderly, as well as the emerging issue for social work intervention, namely criminal justice. Part four (Chapters 24-29) discusses health-and mental health systems, policies and outcomes across both India and the US. The last part (Chapters 30-32) depicts the increasing complexities in the fields of social work and social development, and suggests expanding the social work curriculum by adding emerging issues of importance
