Social Work Practice, Policy, and Inequality in an Aging Society
A special issue of Societies (ISSN 2075-4698). This special issue belongs to the section "The Social Nature of Health and Well-Being".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 November 2026 | Viewed by 162
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Population aging is reshaping societies worldwide, with profound implications for social work practice, policy, and research. As older adults navigate intersecting challenges related to health, caregiving, inequality, housing, migration, and social exclusion, social work occupies a critical position at the interface of individual well-being and structural conditions. This Special Issue of Societies, ‘Social Work Practice, Policy, and Inequality in an Aging Society’, seeks to advance interdisciplinary and critical scholarship that examines how social work engages with aging across diverse social, cultural, and policy contexts.
The focus of this Special Issue is threefold. First, it aims to explore innovative social work practices with older adults, families, and communities, particularly those addressing complex needs, care transitions, and long-term support systems. Second, it examines how social policies shape aging experiences, with attention to inequities related to race, gender, class, disability, migration status, and geography. Third, it encourages conceptual and theoretical contributions that deepen understanding of aging as a social process rather than solely a biomedical phenomenon.
This Special Issue usefully supplements existing literature by centering social work’s distinct contributions to aging scholarship, namely its commitment to social justice, relational practice, and structural analysis. While gerontology and aging studies have expanded significantly, social work perspectives remain underrepresented in critical debates on aging policy, care regimes, and lived experience. By bringing together empirical studies, conceptual papers, and systematic reviews, this collection highlights how social work research and practice can inform more equitable, inclusive, and humane responses to aging in contemporary societies.
We welcome contributions that employ diverse methodologies, theoretical frameworks, and international perspectives, and that speak to both academic and practice audiences.
Contributions have to follow one of the three categories of papers (article, conceptual paper or review) of the journal and address the topic of the Special Issue.
Dr. Shivani Kaushik
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- social work
- aging
- older adults
- social policy
- inequality
- caregiving
- long-term care
- gerontology
- end-of-life care
- health and well-being
- social justice
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