The Settlement House Movement Revisited: A Transnational History

This book is a collection of essays about the role and impact of the Settlement House movement. Typically consisting of the establishment of a building-based community in a low-income urban neighbourhood, Settlement Houses provided spaces and opportunities for social workers, students and activists to undertake research, and work in neighbourhoods with the aim of improving conditions and further the wellbeing of residents. Activities included diverse educational, welfare, public health and cultural ones alongside social research, and efforts to organize and empower the community and engage in advocacy on behalf of its members. This book aims to examine the interconnections between the Settlement House movement and other social or professional movements and the development of it across national, cultural, and social boundaries. It provides an historical approach to the study of the Settlement House movement and is one of the first collections to do so in relation to developments in social welfare and the profession of social work across a range of nations. In order to explore the translation of the Settlement House idea across, and within, nations, individual chapters examine the ways in which Settlement Houses developed in various national contexts. These will analyse the interconnection and relationships with other reform movements and social work approaches, consider the relationship between social action and research and better understand the impact of the Settlement Houses upon the communities in which they operated as well as the wider development of social welfare and social policy and research