At the Joint World Conference on Social Work and Social Development in Hong Kong in 2010 a set of values was formulated that defined the mission of social work and the development of social policy. It is assumed that these key values, and in particular the principles of social justice and empowerment, are shared by social work and social policy practitioners, educators and experts. In the history of the profession there are many examples in which social workers sought, and successfully achieved, politically significant changes in the social order. However, there were also periods of a decline in activism and a decrease in the role of structural or political social work.

This chapter presents the results of a study of the participation of Russian social workers in processes of structural changes. Interviews with social workers were conducted in several Russian regions. Case studies present mechanisms of changes evoked through counter-actions and compromises, individual activity or collective action, consolidation with social movements and other agents, through the implementation of new methods and forms of casework in the system of social services, or through the lobbying of legislative changes and the practice of institutionalised forms of conflict resolution in courts. Strategies for promoting social change, agents of change and institutional barriers are discussed in the theoretical context of professionalism as a value system and ideology.

Background

In the early 1990s Russian society changed drastically. It became more open and heterogeneous. This brought wealth to some and hardship to others. It was a time of major political changes and painful social transformations, which were accompanied by a dramatic growth in levels of of poverty and unemployment, homelessness and juvenile delinquency, drug and alcohol misuse, mental health issues, and HIV/AIDS (Green et al, 2000; Stephenson 2000, 2006; Pridemore, 2002; Höjdestrand, 2003; Titterton, 2006; McAuley, 2010). Under conditions of a rapid decrease in the living standard during market reforms, the number of welfare client groups increased and it became evident that existing social institutions could not cope with these new social problems. Russia inherited from the Soviet period a complex system of social security based on public institutions, without professional social work and with very limited and often irregular cash benefits to different social groups (people with disabilities, single mothers, veterans, and so on – altogether making up more than 150 categories).