Faulty ‘tools’? Why social work scholarship needs to take a more critical approach to Michel Foucault

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 483-500 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Michael Garrett
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Michel Foucault ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Coercive Power ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Critical Approaches ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Micro Level

Summary Having outlined Foucault’s articulation of power and governmentality, the article critically explores attempts to translate the philosopher’s theorisation into social work. Findings After briefly referring to Jacques Donzelot’s work and that of other writers, it is argued that Foucault’s conceptual ‘tools’ are problematic for those seeking to promote critical approaches within the field of social work. Those influenced by Foucault’s complex contributions may amplify a defective understanding of power which unduly emphasises ‘soft’ power and neglects the continuing significance of hierarchical and coercive power. This is reflected in Foucault’s analysis of the state and, at a micro level, his remarks on sexualised interactions involving adults and children. Efforts to ‘apply’ Foucauldian reasoning within social work may also risk promoting politically passive forms of theory and practice. Applications Contributing to the discipline’s literature on Foucault, the article maintains the social work scholarship has much to gain by engaging with work, but this engagement might aspire to become more critical.

Contribution of the Social Work Study of the Institute of Sociology the University of Silesia in the process of professionalisation of the social worker profession – historical outline

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 7-25
Author(s):  
Kazimiera Wódz ◽  
Ewa Leśniak-Berek
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Work Study ◽  
Work Unit ◽  
Research Activity ◽  
25Th Anniversary ◽  
Historical Outline ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The University

The main goal of the article is to present the achievements of the Social Work Unit at the Institute of Sociology of the University of Silesia, accumulated during the 25 years of its functioning. Aside from the rich experience in terms of educating towards the position of a social employee, the unit is characterized by scientific research activity and is engaged in numerous cooperative endeavours locally, nationally and internationally. The entirety of the activity contributes to the pursuit of processes that strengthen the professionalism and prestige of the job of a social employee. The activity results from the belief in the significance of combining theory and practice, which is evidenced in the various forms of the realized tasks. The text was created for the 25th anniversary of the existence of the Social Work Unit and is a summary of the most important achievements.

scholarly journals Critical Social Analysis of Crisis

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 7-37
Author(s):  
Felipe Ziotti Narita ◽  
Jeremiah Morelock
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Analysis ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Capitalist Development ◽  
The Social ◽  
Critical Approaches ◽  
Critical Social

In this article, we offer a critical social analysis of crisis in light of capitalist development and, above all, in the post-2008 world. We discuss five approaches in the social sciences that deal with the problem of crisis and develop some theore­tical lines for a critical approach to the theme. We argue that precarity can be an important topic for grasping the current crises via critical approaches. The text also presents the six articles that are part of the issue we edited for Praktyka Teoretyczna entitled “Latency of the crisis.”

scholarly journals Ubuntu and its potential impact on the international social work profession

2021 ◽  
pp. 002087282110227
Author(s):  
Bernard Mayaka ◽  
Rory Truell
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Development ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
International Social Work ◽  
Social Work Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
Global Agenda ◽  
International Social ◽  
Community Systems

Ubuntu is the current theme for the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development and represents the highest level of global messaging within the social work profession for the years 2020–2030. This article presents an in-depth description of Ubuntu as a philosophy of social development that can strengthen social work theory and practice in its global aims of supporting community systems of social protection and social justice. The article concludes with advancing proposals on how the learnings from Ubuntu can strengthen international social work ethics, principles and practice.

scholarly journals The Poetics of social work – how being artful in our craft takes us elsewhere into mindfulness

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-72
Author(s):  
Vaughan Milner
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Knowledge Base ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Helping Relationship ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Way

Poetry is an ageless craft that helps people find meaning and gives hope and courage. The poetics of social work describes an evolving framework in which poetry is located as a knowledge base that draws out mindfulness in the midst of uncertainty. Examples are provided of how the spiritual and artful aspects of the social work craft can be made more purposeful and explained through a poetic frame. Notions of light, time and space contex- tualise the way authentic relationships are at the heart of our work. Many people talk about the art of social work, often in the context of the more mysterious, intangible, and less ‘scientific ‘ aspects of our craft. Usually such references are around the relational intimacies that our work relies on to be effective. In essence this is the connection between people, and the possibilities and hope that emerge from that authentic helping relationship. An alternative view would be that describing social work as an ‘art’ places the work in a romanticised and nonsensical frame from an era before professionalisation, and the framing of practice in theory, defined skills and qualifications. The professionalisation of social work has certainly meant ‘more than common sense’ (Maidment and Egan, 2004) is expected in the application of theory and practice. This begs the question of the artfulness of practice. These notions of the art and craft of social work deserve exploration. 

4. Critical Approaches to Global Politics

2021 ◽  
pp. 77-99
Author(s):  
Stephanie Lawson
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Historical Sociology ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Global Politics ◽  
World Systems ◽  
World Systems Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
Critical Approaches ◽  
The Cold War

This chapter investigates critical approaches to global politics. While liberal and realist theorists probe each other’s ideas for faults and weaknesses, neither have challenged capitalism and its implications for social, economic, and political order. Marxism, on the other hand, which developed around the mid-nineteenth century, has provided very different perspectives and presents a significant challenge for mainstream approaches to global order in both theory and practice. Post-Marxist Critical Theory, along with historical sociology and world-systems theory, emerged in the twentieth century, giving rise to schools of thought which continue the critique of capitalism and the social and political forces underpinning it. Meanwhile, ideas arising from social theory, such as the extent to which perceptions of reality are socially conditioned and indeed ‘constructed’, achieved greater prominence following the end of the Cold War, an event which prompted many scholars to start asking new questions about global politics and the assumptions on which traditional theories rested. Constructivism, postmodernism, and poststructuralism remain concerned with issues of power and justice but provide different lenses through which these issues may be viewed in the sphere of global politics.

scholarly journals Social work in Russia in the context of paradigm changes

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3B) ◽  
pp. 381-388
Author(s):  
Mikhail V. Firsov ◽  
Anastasia V. Karpunina ◽  
Anna A. Chernikova ◽  
Dmitriy A. Dontsov ◽  
Margarita V. Dontsova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Educational System ◽  
Education System ◽  
Multilevel Model ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Individual Work ◽  
The Social ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Russian Model

The article determines the main trends in the development of theory and practice of social work and the education system in the conditions of modern Russia. The specific characteristics of the transition of practice from social patronage to individual work are revealed, the problem areas in Russian social work in the context of further development of the profession, theory, and the multilevel model of education are identified. The article examines approaches to the problems that are taking shape within the paradigm of social work and appear to be characteristic of the new stage of its institutionalization. The authors focus on the main contradictions within the Russian model of social work associated with the crisis of the social patronage model, the postmodern challenges of cognition theory, and new trends in the educational system.

scholarly journals The Main Aspects of the Activities of Charitable Organizations in the Legacy of Mary Ellen Richmond

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liudmyla Petrukhan-Scherbakova ◽  
◽  
Nadiia Chernukha ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Public Agencies ◽  
Charitable Organizations ◽  
Scientific Heritage ◽  
The Social ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Circle Diagram

The article is devoted to the analysis of the scientific heritage of Mery Elen Richmond. A cornerstone of building the social work profession, Mary Richmond was known for her ability to organize communities, her development of casework practice, as well as her ability to teach and speak intelligently on a wide array of subjects. The subject of the article is the provisions on the activities of charitable organizations in the United States during the life and work of the researcher. The article describes the main problems in the activities of charitable organizations of the late 19th - early 20th centuries During this time Richmond was connected to the COS, she demonstrated her qualities as a leader, teacher, and practical theorist; ; revealed the functions of charitable organizations in the theory and practice of M. E. Richmond; described possible provisions for improving the activities of charitable organizations in accordance with the legacy of Mary Ellen Richmond, who is considered a principle founder of the profession of social work and the importance of professional education. Her first principle was that care had to focus on the person within their situation. Building on extensive research, she developed what she labelled ‘social diagnosis’. Her famous circle diagram visualized the correspondence of client and environment. Richmond identified six sources of power that are available to clients and their social workers: sources within the household, in the person of the client, in the neighborhood and wider social network, in civil agencies, in private and public agencies. This is a precursor of the system theory that was so popular in 1970’s social work.

scholarly journals Social work in the Pacific: The humble and unrefined views of a non-social worker

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 5-8
Author(s):  
Steven Ratuva
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Worker ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Wealth Accumulation ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Human Wellbeing ◽  
Education And Health ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Power Game

I once worked in a university where sociology and social work were part of the same department, which I headed. I observed how social work, more than most “disciplines,” was readily responsive, quickly adaptive and empowering with the potential to be readapted and aligned to suit different socio-cultural contexts. From the vantage point of a non-social worker, this makes it resilient and relevant in a fast-changing world where conflict, wealth accumulation and the creation of expanding subaltern classes take place simultaneously. As peripheral “participants” in the process of corporate, technological and cultural globalisation, Pacific Island countries (PICs), often see themselves increasingly subaltern in the global economic and political power game as manifested in increasing poverty, social dislocation, debt, crime and other social problems.A growing capacity for responsiveness, adaptation and empowerment requires a critical approach to understanding the complexities of social dynamics and impact on human wellbeing. Social work crosses the arbitrary boundaries between sociology, anthropology, psychology, development studies, conflict/peace studies, education and health and this trans-disciplinary approach makes it well positioned to address issues such as inequality, poverty, alienation and marginalisation which are common amongst subaltern groups, including those in the Pacific (Sherif Sherif, 2017). Social work also has the potential to bridge the gap between theory and practice in what Marxian scholars refer to as “praxis” (Freenberg, 2014). Its strength is also in keeping human wellbeing as the central focus in its analysis.

scholarly journals Critical Social Work – Considerations and Suggestions

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Herz ◽  
Thomas Johansson
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Critical Points ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Self Image ◽  
Critical Social Work ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Landscape ◽  
Critical Social

Social work is often described as socially oriented, politically sensitive and as taking a critical approach to ‘social problems’. However, recently we have seen how this self-image has lost ground. In the present article, we have discussed how demands for evidence and scientific evaluations of social work have gradually pushed the discipline and practice in the direction of psychological measurements and methods. Here, we will identify a problematic development within the social and theoretical practice of social work, and make some suggestions regarding how to start discussing, analysing and dealing with this changing social landscape. We will identify some critical points and issues and present models of how to think about and develop a critical social work practice. KEYWORDS: Evidence, psychologization, social work practice, meta-theory, discursive-narrative

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