Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : social work perspectives on human rights / Elisabeth Reichert -- Human rights in the twenty-first century : creating a new paradigm for social work / Elisabeth Reichert -- Human rights in social work practice : an invisible part of the social work curriculum? / Lena Dominelli -- Global distributive justice as a human right : implications for the creation of a human rights culture / Joseph Wronka -- Cultural relativism and community activism / Jim Ife -- Development, social development, and human rights / James Midgley -- Using economic human rights in the movement to end poverty : the Kensington Welfare Rights union and the Poor People's Economic Human Rights campaign / Mary Bricker-Jenkins, Carrie Young, and Cheri Honkala -- Economic and social rights : the neglected human rights / Silvia Staub-Bernasconi -- Human rights and women : a work in progress / Janice Wood Wetzel -- Human rights violations against female offenders and inmates / Katherine van Wormer -- Children's rights as a template for social work practice / Rosemary J. Link -- Globalization, democratization, and human rights : human-made disasters and a call for universal social justice / Brij Mohan -- Law and social work : not-so-odd bedfellows in promoting human rights / Robert J. McCormick.

By using human rights as a guidepost, social workers can help create social welfare policies that better serve societal needs. Bringing together essays from a diverse range of authors, the editor demonstrates how approaching social work from a human rights perspective can profoundly affect legislation, resource management, and enforcement of policies. Topics include the reconciliation of cultural relativism with universal human rights; the debate over whether human rights truly promote economic and social development or simply allow economically developed societies to exploit underdeveloped countries; the role of gender in the practice of human rights; the tendency to promote political and civil rights over economic and social rights; and the connection between the social work and legal professions.