1st edition: December 2009

Social work focuses on people and their interaction with the social environment. It deals with individuals, groups and communities by using micro, meso and macro approaches. It promotes human and social rights, and supports vulnerable and oppressed groups. In contemporary multi-cultural European societies, social work emphasizes the need to establish equal opportunities and to promote actions that aim at improving the quality of life of adults and at enhancing the child’s well being.
The aim of social work intervention is to prevent and deal with discrimination, oppression, racism and social exclusion. Social inclusion of culturally diverse groups mainly requires inclusive education and the reduction of unemployment so as to promote social cohesion.
Social Work in a Multicultural Environment reveals the dynamics of complexity that emerge in contemporary multicultural environment. It mainly focuses on Muslim communities in the European Union and especially in Muslim communities in the area of Thrace in Greece. The analysis is supported by selected case studies of underdeveloped neighborhoods and villages in the prefectures of Xanthi, Rodopi and Evros, where social work intervention aims to deal with dropping out of school and to create a bridge between schools, families and local communities.