Bill Jordan

Professor of Social Work

Background

Bill Jordan was in social work practice for 20 years, and was also involved in a poor people's movement. His early publications were on social work practice and poverty. Later he wrote extensively on social policy, political thought and political economy.  He has been visiting professor in the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic, also in Australia. He received an honorary doctorate in social work from Kingston University in 2008.
Education: First Class Honours, Christ Church, Oxford, Philosophy, Politics, Economics, 1962; Grad. Cert. Soc. Work (with distinction), Exeter Univ., 1964.
Employment: Probation officer, Devon, 1965-74; Social worker, Devon, 1975-85; Lecturer in Social Work, Exeter Univ., 1969-91, Professor of Social Policy, 1998-2004; Principal Lecturer, Huddersfield Univ., 1991-7, Professor of Social Policy, 1997-; Professor of Social Policy, Plymouth University, 2004-; Visiting Professor, Universities of Amsterdam, Aalborg, Bremen, Bratislava, Budapest, Cologne, Prague, !992-2003.

Research Interests

He has held research grants from the ESRC, the European Commission, the Nuffield Foundation and the Esmee Fairbairn Trust. A recent research field has been immigration policy, and most recently 'well-being'.

Areas of PhD Research Supervision:

Comparative Social Policy
Poverty and Social Exclusion
Immigration and Social Cohesion
Social Work and Political Ideology

Recent Publications

‘Social Capital and Welfare Policy’, in D. Castiglione, J. Van Deth and G. Wolleb (eds), Social Capital: A Handbook, Oxford; Oxford University Press, 2008, 652-76
Welfare and Well-being: Social Value in Public Policy, Bristol: Policy Press, 2008.
‘Social Work and World Poverty’, International Social Work,51, 2008, 440-52.
Social Work and Well-being, Lyme Regis: Russell House, 2007
‘Public Services and the Service Economy: Individualism and the Choice Agenda’, Journal of Social Policy, 35, 2006, 143-62.
Social Policy for the Twenty-First Century: Big Issues, New Perspectives, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2006
Jordan, Bill (2004), Sex, Money and Power: The Transformation of Collective Life, Cambridge: Polity.
Jordan, Bill (2004), "Emancipatory Social Work: Opportunity or Oxymoron?", British Journal of Social Work, 34, 1, pp5-19.
Jordan, Bill and Düvell, Franck (2003), Migration: The Boundaries of Equality and Justice, Cambridge: Polity.
Jordan, Bill and Düvell, Franck (2002), Irregular Migration: The Dilemmas of Transnational Mobility. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
‘Tough Love: Social Work, Social Exclusion and the Third Way’, British Journal of Social Work, 31, 2001, 527-46.