A study of the professionalization process of social work in the Chinese mainland: Interaction of the state, the society and the academic community (1978--2006)

The central issue of this dissertation is the professionalization process of social work in the Chinese mainland during the period 1978-2006. The study endeavors to explore and analyze the salient features of this development in different stages in terms of the interaction between the "State", the "society", and the "academic community".;Using the "historical sociology" approach as research methodology, this study discloses the dynamics that have enhanced the growth of the social work profession through the interaction among the "State", the "society" and the "academic community". And it also adopted the method of "process-event" analysis, take the critical events as the basis, the process of social work development was divided into three period, and conducted the further research of five critical "key events" in this process.;Through the above mentioned historical review, I have discovered that the professionalization of social work in the Chinese mainland during the period 1978 to 2006 was the result of the dynamic interaction between a "strong State" and the "habitual submission" of the "academic community" and "society". I have also found that this process was characterized by "disconnectedness" and that the social work profession in the Chinese mainland was still situated at a "pre-professional" stage of development.;The study also discovers that the development of the social work profession in the Chinese mainland was closely correlated with the Government's intention to use social work as a means to enhance the "soft power" in the country and to employ intrusive interventions to "embed" social work into the State's existing systems. The State has played a strong leadership role in directing the development process of social work in the Chinese mainland, and the academia and social work sectors had played a submissive role in the process. The "Chinese style" of the development process of the social work profession was obviously unparalleled and drastically different from that of its international counterparts.