Social Work Treatment: Interlocking Theoretical Approaches. Francis J. Turner (Ed.). New York:  Free Press. 1974.  xx + 520 pp.

This interesting volume is a compilation of the theories upon which social workers allegedly base their practice. It is at least the third such anthology to appear in the last four years and must really be considered

simultaneously with the other two, which are Theories of Social Casework, edited by Robert Roberts and Robert Nee, and Social Casework: Theories in Action, edited by Herbert Strean. The Roberts and Nee volume was a symposium in honor of Charlotte Towle which assembled seven of the leading casework practitioners to present their overviews of the field. As Bernice Simon mentioned in her brilliant analysis of the symposium, of the seven presentations six were actually offshoots of a psycho-dynamic orientation, the seventh of a behavioristic one. The Strean book, in contrast, was more adventuresome and presented only one psychoanalytic article and six on role theory, communications theory, organizational theory, systems theory, groups, and behavior modification. With the exception of the behavior modification article by Edwin Thomas, all Strean's authors were lesser known, younger, and less bound by the strictures of the academy.

Turner's book is more ambitious; he presents fourteen approaches, or “bodies of thought.” Four of the approaches (psychoanalytic, ego-psychological, psychosocial, and problem-solving) are categorized by Turner as psychoanalytic and four (functional, client-centered, cognitive, and existential) as having their origins in the “Rankian-Smalley” tradition. Turner also includes an article on role theory by Strean (the only author who appears in either of the two preceding books), general systems theory by Hearn (a provocative thinker who was long ahead of his time), communications theory, behavior-modification crisis theory, and family therapy. The articles are all excellent, and Turner has exposed the field to some promising new younger writers and thinkers. The papers do not follow a structured outline (such as the one that produced