Social welfare, social work and development: Review of literature

An attempt has been made in this article to survey the literature on the theme of social welfare, social work and development, contributed by the Indian writers, during a period of about 40 years from 1955 to 1996. It has been supplemented by drawing upon the contributions of non-Indian authors, mainly for providing a comparative perspective. In the first section, the main ideas of selected authors have been reviewed. The arrangement of the content in this section is on the basis of sub-themes such as definitions; evolution of social welfare, social work and social development; roles, tasks and functions; and implications for practice. Generally a chronological sequence has been maintained in preparing the summary. In the next section, an evaluative overview has been presented. Finally a few suggestions have been made for the future.