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AbstractThe author presents research in progress, exploring the Poverty of Culture as a refutation of the mythical 'cycle of poverty' sustained by the older Culture of Poverty.

The main assumption of the article under discussion seems flawed and misconstrued. The "professional decline of social work" neither is because of the "lack of scholarship of the Board of Directors" nor is an outcome of an imperfect accreditation process. The presumption that independently achieved accreditation will improve the quality of scholarship and educational programs and raise the deans' and directors' caliber is also misconceived. The author, though in general agreement with many of the observations of Stoesz and Karger, finds the crisis of social work deeply rooted in the field's cultural contradictions, academic malaise, and professional mendacity. The triangularity of this problem obscures basic issues that are crucial to unraveling social work education, its variegated crisis, and its possible transformation.

English>This article challenges contemporary professional culture to rethink international social work as a liberating praxis and a discipline of academic significance. Currently international social work tends to spatialize its objects of study. Since humankind's wellbeing is intrinsically linked with science and social transformation, the vocabularies of change merit meaningful contextualization.FrenchCet article met au défi la culture professionnelle contemporaine de repenser le travail social international pour en faire une praxis libératoire et une discipline académique significative. Le travail social international a tendance à spacialiser les objets de son étude. Comme le bien-être de l'humanité est intimement lié aux transformations scientifiques et sociales, les vocabulaires du changement méritent une mise en contexte significative.SpanishEste artículo desafía la cultura profesional contemporánea para repensar el trabajo social internacional como una práctica liberadora y una disciplina de significación académica. Actualmente, el Trabajo Social Internacional tiende a especializar sus objetos de estudio. Desde que el bienestar de la humanidad está intrínsecamente vinculado con la ciencia y la transformación social, los vocabularios de cambio merecen contextualizar sus significados.

English Globalization and its many faces have essentially changed the content and character of inter- and intra-societal relationships. A new kind of social work will have to embrace universalization of values, knowledge and skills that promote inclusive world citizenship and global coexistence. French La mondialisation et ses multiples visages ont essentiellement changé le contenu et le caractère des relations inter- et intra-sociétales. Une nouvelle forme de travail social devra se fonder sur des valeurs, des connaissances et des habiletés universelles qui mettent de l'avant des notions de citoyenneté mondiale inclusive et de coexistence globale. Spanish La globalización y sus muchas facetas han cambiado esencialmente el contenido y el carácter de las relaciones inter e intrasociales. Un nuevo tipo de trabajo social tendrá que abrazar la universalización de los valores, el conocimiento y las destrezas que promuevan una ciudadanía mundial y una coexistencia global inclusivas.

But there remains also the truth that every end in history necessarily contains a new beginning; this beginning is the promise, the only 'message' which the end can ever produce. Beginning, before it becomes a historical event, is the supreme capacity of man; politically, it is identical with man's freedom. (Arendt, 1979: 478-9)

"Two eminent Deans Emeritus in two different continents unravel contemporary social and public policy issues that are seldom discussed in traditional textbooks. In a new Dickensian era, uplifting people's lives amidst faltering social institutions and massive cultural meltdowns, policy discourse is a crucial obligation; it's a discipline that entails pragmatic vision and prescient planning. Social Policy on the Cusp is a modest attempt to unravel the nexus of nihilism that thwarts even civilization-nations' efforts to promote inclusive diversity. Brij Mohan and Guy Backman have analyzed certain aspects and issues in American, European and Asian contexts that unravel intersectionality of problems, people, and policies. Brij Mohan, a policy gadfly, examines the human condition using Nietzschean, Foucautean and Gandhian thoughts that expose the hidden malaise of unhappiness, angst and anger in a globalized world. Social policy as a euphemism, he contends, sustains chaos and resentment without transforming oppressive systems. His five chapters offer penetrating insights into the problems that a therapeutic culture breeds. With an uncanny sagacity, he examines coloniality and post-colonialism as a womb that spells paroxysms of despair. Guy Bäckman has contributed five chapters, which are based on his research and findings on poverty and inequalities that plague the world today. The vision of a better, cohesive world has guided the design of the empirically oriented chapters in Part Two. Social policy, through the use of advanced technology and algorithmic solutions, promotes transformative policy actions based on preferred values and goals rooted in cultural conditions. In a new political economy, it could become the instructions we write to ourselves to navigate a society that is smarter, safer, and more just. Two invited contributions by Stan Weeber, USA and Eleni Makri, Greece, further narrate the tales of "smart city" and "workplace discrimination" in light of the failed public policies in a new brave world"--

The political philosophy of "otherness" implies the dialectic of self and intersubjectivity, which refers to marginalization of the opposite of self, us, and the "same". A failed society is a dysfunctional organization of broken institutions that breed extremist ideologies of racism, discrimination, carnage, and terror. This presentation unravels the structure of evil that thwarts freedom and justice. Structural barriers are embedded in conventional constitutionalism and "Poverty of Culture", inclusive of archaic beliefs and practices.

This book offers an interdisciplinary analysis of complex issues, constructs, and interventions that deal with human-social problems with global implications. It posits social development theory and practice in a critically important context challenging the scientific orthodoxy of our times. Author Brij Mohan: Professor of Social Work, Louisiana State University, USA