scholarly journals Abortion in Canada as a Social Justice Issue in Contemporary Canada

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Shaw
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Legal Decision ◽  
Bodily Integrity ◽  
Ethical Obligation ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Canadian Association ◽  
Abortion Access ◽  
Critical Social ◽  
Crisis Pregnancy

Twenty-five years after the legal decision that decriminalized abortion in Canada, significant barriers and issues continue to impact the ability of women to exercise their right to bodily integrity. Provinces have abdicated their responsibility to provide adequate abortion access; Members of Parliament continue to introduce and entertain anti-abortion motions and bills; Crisis Pregnancy Centres and anti-abortion advocates perpetuate myths; and women continue to face judgment for controlling their reproduction. The Canadian Association of Social Workers articulates that social workers have an ethical obligation to work towards social justice for all. This paper serves to explain why abortion is still a critical social justice issue, and compels readers to take action against the reproductive oppression of women.

scholarly journals The Intrepid Elective

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 708-729
Author(s):  
Alexis Jemal ◽  
Jenna Frasier
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Critical Social Work ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Critical Social

The field of social work has a professional and ethical commitment to social justice. However, scholars have identified potential dangers that may threaten that commitment. To transform dangers into opportunities that strengthen social justice service, schools of social work could incorporate critical pedagogy within the Master of Social Work (MSW) curriculum. By training future social workers in critical social work practice, social work education becomes an advocate for marginalized populations. If not educated from an anti-oppressive framework, social workers have the potential to harm, oppress, and control rather than support and serve. The weight of this responsibility and firsthand social work education experiences led to the development and implementation of an elective course in critical social work informed by the Critical Transformative Potential Development (CTPD) Framework. The course follows a method that puts the CTPD theory into practice to bridge the micro-macro divide by engaging students in actively dismantling ideologies and practices of dominance. The course aims to produce anti-oppressive social workers who can better navigate social justice terrain. A student’s perspective on the course highlights strengths and areas for improvement. Future iterations of this class or similar courses of study could be adapted by and adopted for other social work education institutions. Because social work education is fertile ground to plant seeds that will grow social workers rooted in anti-racism and anti-White supremacy, there is the opportunity, with a radical education, to transform the field in a critical direction, better prepared to overcome the social justice challenges of the era.

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.

Positioning Social Justice: Reclaiming Social Work’s Organising Value

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (6) ◽  
pp. 1652-1668
Author(s):  
Dassi Postan-Aizik ◽  
Corey S Shdaimah ◽  
Roni Strier
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Visual Analysis ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Positive Contribution ◽  
Core Value

Abstract This article explores the value of social justice as a shared ethical ground for social workers worldwide. Constructions and interpretations of social justice are deeply affected by different perspectives, contested positions and unequal power dynamics. As societies become ever more diversified, these may hinder the centrality of social justice as a core value. Drawing on data collected from participants in a binational interprofessional seminar on social justice in multi-cultural societies, this qualitative study is based on interviews and visual analysis with 16 American and 15 Israeli social workers and social work students. Findings suggest that social justice remains a core value although it is both an organising and disorganising, unifying and dividing concept. The study explores the positive contribution of positionality to help gain a broader understanding of social justice and navigate challenges in implementation, practice and education in diverse and conflicted settings. Practical implications for social work practice and education are discussed.

scholarly journals Thinking with Stories

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Shaw
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Narrative Inquiry ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Doctoral Dissertation

As a relational epistemology and research methodology, narrative inquiry is one way that people come to know experience through story. Social workers are experienced in working with people’s stories, yet there is a dearth of literature where both social work and narrative inquiry are discussed alongside each other. This paper highlights the particular ways that a researcher commits to living and understanding a narrative view of experience as they engage in research that is relational. It explains some of the language that narrative inquirers use to describe their work, and uses examples from a social work doctoral dissertation to demonstrate the methodological touchstones of a social work narrative inquiry. It concludes with an invitation for social workers to consider narrative inquiry as a process that can guide and advance both clinical practice and social justice work.

Narrative resistance in social work research and practice: Counter-storying in the pursuit of social justice

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne McKenzie-Mohr ◽  
Michelle N Lafrance
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Master Narratives ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Social Work Research ◽  
Counter Narratives ◽  
Practical Guidance

In this article, we propose ‘narrative resistance’ as a potent and useful concept for both social work research and practice. A concept that attends to power and oppression, narrative resistance provides a platform for tangible applications to support people’s efforts to resist harmful storyings of their lives. The aim of this article is to provide practical guidance for how social workers can attend to and support people’s acts of narrative resistance. This is achieved by introducing the functions of narrative in people’s lives and its inextricable links to power; discussing ‘master narratives’ and their potential for harm; and exploring narrative resistance by articulating the role of ‘counter narratives’ as a means to ‘talk back’ to injurious master narratives. The remainder of the article outlines considerations, skills and tools required to enhance counter-storying efforts in the service of emancipatory change. We spotlight examples of narrative resistance in the literature to illustrate the pragmatic mobilization of this work.

The end of social work

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Maylea
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Master Narrative ◽  
Social Work Theory ◽  
Work World ◽  
Theory Base ◽  
Theoretical Foundations

Abstract Social work literature is saturated with calls to reform social work in diverse and contradictory ways. This article argues that the profession of social work cannot be reformed and must be abolished. Specifically, the master narrative of Anglophone social work must be abandoned along with the institutions which maintain it; the professional bodies, the academic discipline and the formal title. Four reasons for this are presented: social work’s lack of coherent theory base, the problem of professionalism, social work’s historical abuses and the profession’s inability to rise to contemporary challenges. The fundamental theoretical tensions in social work theory are identified as preventing the profession from reconciling its aims of assuaging individual suffering and achieving social justice. This has also hindered social work’s aspiration to professionalism, which is both distracting and actively prevents social workers from working with people and communities. While these issues may have once been resolvable, the historical and contemporary contexts prevent resolution. Social work’s uncertain theoretical foundations, desire for professional legitimacy, past abuses and contemporary failures put the profession beyond recovery. No solutions or resolutions are suggested. What pieces are to be salvaged from the wreck of social work must be determined by the post-social work world.

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