Dedicated to the world's marginalized people, this exhaustively documented text studies that United States' social welfare system in comparison to international approaches with extensive coverage of the systems in Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Mexico, and Norway. This timely offering coincides with social work's growing international commitment, and explores how this concern affects the profession on both individual and policy-making levels. Initially van Wormer describes social work's historical beginnings and then establishes the groundwork for contemporary practice. The text meets CSWE's requirement that the social work curriculum provide content on discrimination, economic deprivation, and oppression and their effects on people of color, women, and gay and lesbian persons. Knowledge of these dynamics will prompt social work students to accept their role as citizens of not just their own countries, but also of the world.