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Book Review: Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism by Anne Case and Angus Deaton

and the ‘crumbly ivory tower’ (p. 76) of academia seems an equally implausible site of insurgency. Burghardt calls on social workers to come together, having just shown that they have failed to do so for over a century. This hopeful picture of resurgence and regeneration does not fit with the description of the profession’s inability to recognise its diminished stature and contemporary feebleness. The work is unapologetically U.S. focused, with a uniquely American view of the social worker and the profession of social work, which will not translate into other jurisdictions where social work is more highly valued or social workers more highly paid. Some of the experiences of overwork and underpay may resonate, but few UK, Canadian or Australian social workers are working weekends as baristas so they can afford to pay off student loans. Social workers outside the Anglophone world may see more of themselves in Burghardt’s bleak picture, however, the U.S. context will be incomprehensible many to non-U.S. readers. Above all, Burghardt’s solution seems uniquely American, campaigning for better pay and conditions for social workers rather than addressing the underlying conditions that drive people to seek assistance from social workers. This is almost ‘trickle-down’ social work, where empowering social workers will somehow address social ills. The End of Social Work is an excellent description of where U.S. social work has come from and why it is where it is. Burghardt’s proposed remedy, however, seems unlikely to lead to a change in this course.