The first book to examine the language of both traditional and radical social work as forms of power. The will to help and care for people unintentionally results in new types of dependency, control and domination.

Rooted in a lively, critical approach to social work education and practice, Social Work and Common Sense challenges readers to think critically and more deeply about core facets of social work knowledge and ‘received ideas’. Garrett draws on the work of Antonio Gramsci to develop new, and often provocative, insights on attachment theory, creativity, anger, human rights, the ‘unmarried mother’ in Ireland’s past, and contemporary approaches to ‘decolonising’ social work education. The book is divided into ten chapters, each of which includes a series of reflection and talk boxes to assist students to critically reflect (individually and in class/seminar and fieldwork/workplace discussions) on key facets of the preceding chapter. Addressing often complex ideas in a freshly accessible way, Social Work and Common Sense will be required reading in all postgraduate and advanced undergraduate classes in theory and social work.

The Ethical Foundations of Social Work provides you with an engaging, theoretical and practice-based grounding in social work ethics. The authors first examine when, how and why principles and debates historically emerged, then explicitly map them onto everyday ethical challenges and situations in social work practice. As a result, the book promotes an ethically conscious approach where principles can be flexibly and confidently applied as tools to help you with critical problem solving.

First published in 1989, The Haunt of Misery offers social workers and students critical essays for critical times. Faced with unreflective wealth creation and the fragmentation of the counterculture, social work is perceived as failing to meet the needs of the client. Many social workers are left feeling angry, stranded and confused. Written by academics and professionals, the essays range over social work and unemployment, the crisis of AIDS and HIV infection, drug use, client collectives, the elderly, the ethnic minorities, professionalism, and self-management. The authors offer constructive criticism of existing social work practice and suggest radical and exciting issues for the profession in the 1990s and beyond.

This path-breaking text constructs a new way of thinking about social work based on contemporary social theory. Working in a counter-tradition that is suspicious of a number of governing ideas and practices in social work, it draws on themes from Beck, Giddens, Rose to explore the impact of risk society and neo liberalism on social work.

This brilliantly systematic and comprehensive textbook provides an integrated approach to social work theory, methods and skills as the bedrock of all social work practice. Recognizing social work as a diverse activity that is rooted in common foundations, it explains how practice both shapes and is shaped by professional purpose. The text also explores the diverse range of social work practice methods available and aims to equip the reader with a foundation in the history and application of these varied approaches. Offering a step-by-step discussion that will empower readers to critically develop and refine their professional toolkit for purposeful and innovative intervention, this original rationale is an essential resource for any social work student or practitioner looking to build, or consolidate, their understanding of the range of methods and skills available for effective professional practice.

This popular and innovative core text book explores contemporary social work theories and perspectives in a systematic way, using an integrated and flexible framework to link context, theory, and practice approaches. Healy expertly provides an applied guide to social work theory across a range of organisational contexts, showing social work as a diverse activity that is profoundly shaped by professional purpose, public policy, and practice locations. This edition has been comprehensively updated to reflect developments in the contexts and theorising of social work practices. This is ideal reading to support and develop undergraduate and postgraduate students taking modules on Social Work Theories and Methods on qualifying professional programmes. Its international breadth and supportive pedagogical features have ensured the book's value to students of social work all over the world. New to this edition: - New sections on post-humanism and eco-social work - Coverage of a broader range of critical approaches including feminist and anti-racial social work - Additional practice exercises drawn from realistic case studies.

The Routledge Handbook of International Critical Social Work is a companion volume to the Routledge Handbook of Critical Social Work. It brings together world-leading scholars in the field to provide additional, in-depth and provocative consideration of alternative and progressive ways of thinking about social work. Critical social work is increasingly involved in a global conversation, and as a subfield of social work it is rapidly becoming an interdisciplinary field in its own right and promoting novel forms of political activism. The Handbook showcases the global influences and path-breaking ideas of critical social work and examines the different stances taken on important political and ethical issues. It provides the first complete survey of the vibrant field of critical social work in a rich international context. This definitive volume is one of the most comprehensive source books on crucial social work that is available on the international stage and an essential guide for anyone interested in the politics of social work. The Handbook is divided into sever sections • Thinking the Political • Politics and the Ruins of Neoliberalism • Negotiating the State: Resistance, Protest and Dissent • Race, Bordering Practices and Migrants • Post Colonialism, Subaltern and the Global South • Critical Feminism, Sexuality and Gender Politics • Posthumanism, Pandemics and Environment The Handbook is comprised of 46 newly written chapters (and one reprint) which concentrate on differences between European and American contributions in this field as well as explicitly identifying the significance of critical social work in the context of Latin America. It provides a further vital trajectory of intellectual practice theory via interdisciplinary discussion of areas such as biopolitics, critical race theory, boundaries of gender and sexuality, queer studies, new conceptions of community, issues of public engagement, racism and Roma people, ecological feminism, environmental humanities and critical animal studies. The Handbook is an innovative and authoritative guide to theory and method as they relate to policy issues and practice and focus on the primary debates of today in social work from a critical perspective, and will be required reading for all students, academics and practitioners of social work and related professions.

This book will inspire the next generation of social work and human service practitioners to integrate research into their everyday social justice practice. Through highlighting the centrality of values to the task of research and the possibilities for enacting social justice through our research practice, it argues for respectful, meaningful, and just relationships with the people with whom we do research and build knowledge; acknowledges the ongoing impact of colonialism; respects diversity; and commits to working towards social change. With First Nations Worldviews – ways of knowing, ways of being, ways of doing – weaved throughout the text, this book seeks to both reclaim ancient knowledges and disrupt Western research traditions. Divided into three sections, this book provides a strong rationale for the importance of research skills to social work and human service practice; a step-by-step guide on doing social research aimed at novice researchers; a series of examples of applied social justice projects Bringing the authors’ passion for finding new ways of ‘doing’ research and contesting traditional research paradigms of objectivity and the scientific, it advocates for knowledge building that is participatory, emancipatory, and empowered. It will be required reading for all social work and human service students at both the undergraduate and master's level as well as professionals looking to put research into practice.

First published in 1998, this book is a fully revised and updated edition of Social Work Practice, first published in 1993 as a training manual. The New Social Work Practice presents a comprehensive view of contemporary social work. Whether it be general or specialist practice, care and control or power and oppression, these central issues and recurring themes are given a topical treatment. Changes in core aspects of social work are fully explored in lively and realistic ways, combining the essence of good practice with current organizational demands. The aim of the original workbook remains intact: to guide and stimulate learning about social work practice. The book achieves this purpose by presenting various aspects of social work using different settings and contexts. New and revised activities are included to promote discussion, understanding, learning and better practice. Taken toether, the topics and themes in the book define the essential elements of a curriculum for social work practice.