Social workers, critical theory and the political sphere: addressing political misrecognition and marginalisation in the Republic of Ireland

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Flynn
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Critical Commentary ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Electoral Representation ◽  
Irish Politics

Despite the traditional social justice mandate of social work, and critical and radical theoretical traditions that pursue egalitarian and just societies, the engagement of the social work academy with Irish politics has been underwhelming at best. While there are abstract analyses that address sociopolitical theory and ideological wrongdoings related to neoliberalist rationality, attention in social work academia to the nuts and bolts of everyday political life in Ireland, such as democratic party politics and electoral representation, leaves much to the imagination. This article therefore pursues a more grounded reading of social justice in Irish politics for social workers. The supporting proposition is that to effectively interject in political misrecognition and marginalisation, social workers must understand the present political state of play. Towards achieving this, Axel Honneth’s theory of recognition aids thematic critical commentary on the literature.

Facilitating CSWE's Social Justice Competency in Baccalaureate Social Work Courses

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-73
Author(s):  
Simon Funge ◽  
Nancy Meyer-Adams ◽  
Chris Flaherty ◽  
Gretchen Ely ◽  
Jeffrey Baer
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Educational Policy ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Core Competencies ◽  
The Other ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
Practice Behaviors ◽  
The Social ◽  
Work Education

The Council on Social Work Education identifies social justice as one of 10 core competencies in its 2008 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards. Educators can find it daunting to address this particular competency. The National Association of Social Workers' Social Work Speaks can provide a practical guide for educating students in the policy positions of social work's primary professional association. This article offers uses of these materials that can infuse social justice concepts into foundation coursework, mitigating not only some of the challenges associated with teaching this content but also fostering the expected practice behaviors associated with the social justice competency. This model can apply to teaching strategies pertaining to the other nine competencies. Examples of assignments and methods for assessment are provided.

scholarly journals Social work in the social distancing era in Korea: A reflective essay

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (6) ◽  
pp. 830-832
Author(s):  
Tae In Park ◽  
Dong Hun Yang
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Critical Commentary ◽  
The Social ◽  
Reflective Essay

As COVID-19 has created an unprecedented world, social workers in Korea are also dealing with the enormous changes. This reflective essay presents an update on current social work in the country in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The essay also addresses challenges and concerns in the social welfare scenes in Korea, provides critical commentary and calls for action in international contexts.

Educating Australian social workers in the post-Apology era: The potential offered by a ‘Whiteness’ lens

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Young ◽  
Joanna Zubrzycki
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
The Social ◽  
Critical Whiteness ◽  
Whiteness Theory ◽  
Critical Whiteness Theory ◽  
Research Studies

• Summary: The Australian Prime Minister’s 2008 historic Apology to the Stolen Generations gives Australian social work an opportunity to confront its past complicity in Australian Indigenous disadvantage and embrace the development of Indigenous social work as central for practice. Critical Whiteness1 theory in social work curricula could assist the development of Indigenous social work as a core approach by challenging the ongoing and largely un-reflexive practices emanating from social work’s Euro-centric heritage with its often taken-for-granted knowledges and principles which negatively affect Indigenous peoples. • Findings: Recent professional and theoretical attention on critical Whiteness highlights race privilege, questions the invisibility and continuing invisibilization of race, critiques previously taken-for-granted Western knowledges and practices, and facilitates the development of countering practice approaches. Research studies reveal some practitioners to be aware of the need for different practices as well as some who practice differently without realizing they are using critical Whiteness principles. • Application: Critical Whiteness theory in the social work curriculum offers a strong conceptual and practical opportunity for students and practitioners to become more racially cognizant in their work with Indigenous people, allowing this work to be more effective in the profession’s social justice mission as well as decreasing some of the extant colonizing practices.

scholarly journals Will someone knock on my door? COVID-19 and social work education

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 116-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bharati Sethi
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Community Practice ◽  
The Social ◽  
Community Belonging ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Work Education

Guided by a person-in-environment framework and aspirations to advance social justice, the social work profession is concerned with intervening at the individual and society level. In this essay, the author reflects on individualism-collectivism, loneliness, and community belonging in the context of her lived experiences and the COVID-19 outbreak. She maintains that the micro-macro fragmentation is problematic to social work's quest for social justice. Social work must examine the place of ‘community practice' in its professional curriculum to equip students with tools to fully comprehend the changing and increasingly complex social workers' role.

scholarly journals Social Workers’ Attitudes on Social Justice in Taiwan

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824402098828
Author(s):  
Hsin-Yi Chen ◽  
I-Chen Tang
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Moderating Factors ◽  
The Social ◽  
Work Concept ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Human Rights Based Approach

As social justice is an essential social work concept, this study examined the factors that influenced the attitudes of social workers in Taiwan toward social justice through an analysis of Social Justice Scale-TW (SJS-TW) questionnaires conducted on a sample of 276 social workers. It was found that years of work experience, human rights training, and past participation in social protests were important moderating factors of supporting social justice. It was concluded that including a human rights–based approach in social work education has the potential to increase the social workers’ knowledge of and actions in support of social justice.

scholarly journals Social work and social justice: The relationship between fitness to practise and criminal convictions for non-violent activism

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan J. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Policy Statement ◽  
Criminal Convictions ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Sense

INTRODUCTION: Social work as a profession is underpinned by ideas of social justice and human rights, and that social workers have an ethical obligation to uphold these ideas. Social workers have a history of engagement in non-violent social justice activism (NVSJA), and a proud record of achieving social change in Aotearoa New Zealand. However, having a criminal conviction for engaging in NVSJA can be a barrier to social work registration in Aotearoa New Zealand.APPROACH: An exploration of current research around NVSJA and social work registration was conducted. Along with an examination of the Social Workers Registration Board’s (SWRB’s) Fit and Proper Person Policy Statement, with a consideration on the reporting of acts of NVSJA and social workers by the media.CONCLUSION: Those who engage in NVSJA are often likely to gain criminal convictions. This creates a potential barrier for social workers who go beyond the rhetoric and fight for social justice, in a macro and practical sense, from gaining registration. This has become additionally important since the Social Workers Registration Legislation Act (2019) passed and with registration becoming mandatory two years after the Act gained royal assent. There is a need for a change to the Fit and Proper Person Policy Statement so that the SWRB is better able to support social workers who are standing for what social work is all about, or at least, what social work is stated to be all about.

scholarly journals Restorative Justice: A Systematic Review of the Social Work Literature

2009 ◽  
Vol 90 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward J. Gumz ◽  
Cynthia L. Grant
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
The Social ◽  
Distribution Of Resources

Restorative justice is an alternative paradigm for dealing with the effects of crime and wrongdoing that seeks to bring healing to victims, offenders, and the community. Although a key element of social work's ethical code is the obligation to work toward social justice, this has been viewed primarily as efforts to ensure a fair distribution of resources and opportunities. Yet justice is also restorative in nature–-seeking to restore and enhance victims, offenders, and communities to fuller functioning. This article systematically reviews 80 social work peer-reviewed articles dealing with restorative justice. The role of social workers in restorative justice programs remains largely unknown. Suggestions are made for enhancing social work practice in the restorative justice arena.

Epilogue

2020 ◽  
pp. 194-206
Author(s):  
Terri Friedline
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
The Social

As the epilogue to Banking on a Revolution, this final chapter challenges the social work profession to seize responsibility for issues of finance and the economy. Finance’s outsized role in the economy and its exploitation of marginalized communities are pressing concerns, with widespread implications for rendering racial, economic, and social justice. Although the profession has, on the whole, abdicated responsibility for macroeconomic issues, social work is uniquely positioned to bring understandings of racial, economic, and social justice to bear on issues of finance and the economy. Though, it is unlikely that the profession will fully realize its commitment to justice without training and preparing social workers to do this work.

scholarly journals Disrupting the grassroots narrative of social work in Aotearoa New Zealand

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonya Hunt ◽  
Barbara Staniforth ◽  
Liz Beddoe
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
The Public ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
The Social ◽  
Economic Forces

INTRODUCTION: The Aotearoa New Zealand social work professionalisation project disrupted underpinning grassroots narratives of the profession and led to decades of debate and conflict. Social work emphasises egalitarian approaches and, during the 1980s and 1990s, social workers responded to internal and external challenges of elitism, racism, and sexism. However, the ongoing professionalisation project has been at times, at odds with social justice imperatives and undermined by neoliberal drivers.METHODS: This research investigated how political, sociocultural and economic dimensions impacted on the development and initial implementation of the Social Workers Registration Act (2003) and how key actors at the time were affected. A qualitative realist research methodology has been utilised, analysing qualitative interviews with 22 participants, policy documents and archival data to clarify discourses of power and capture the voices and rich stories of those involved in the debates at the time.FINDINGS: A sociological lens was utilised to focus and frame the coalescing political, socio-cultural and economic forces that contributed to the problematising of social work professionalisation and the determining of the need for registration. Insight from some key actors at the time, including educators, the profession, tangata whenua, employers, practitioners, the State, and the public were considered.CONCLUSIONS: Examining these forces behind the professionalisation project provides a platform to consider if social work in Aotearoa New Zealand has been strengthened with registration. There are ongoing challenges and threats to the independence and social justice focus of the profession that grew alongside the grassroots of social work.

Back to the ‘social’ of social work: Reviving the social work profession’s contribution to the promotion of social justice

2012 ◽  
Vol 57 (6) ◽  
pp. 723-740 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping Kwong Kam
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
The Social

Social changes and professionalization have moved social work away from advancing social justice and into the domination of individual therapies. This article redirects social workers’ attention to the importance of the ‘social’ in social work by presenting a six-social dimensions framework, and suggests that this refocusing helps to revive the profession’s contribution to promoting social justice.

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