Book contents
- Engaging with Social Work
- Acknowledgement of Country
- Engaging with Social Work
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Foreword to the second edition
- About the authors
- Acknowledgements
- Acronyms and abbreviations
- 1 The critical potential of social work
- 2 Contemporary practice contexts: Enduring social forces
- 3 The new normal: Contemporary and emerging challenges and opportunities for social work
- 4 What can we do? A critical response to social contexts
- 5 How did we get here? The history of critical social work
- 6 Values and ethics for critical practice
- 7 Theories for practice
- 8 Social work practice
- 9 Diversity, power and knowledge
- 10 Fields of practice: Challenges and opportunities
- 11 Advancing critical social work into the future
- Glossary
- References
- Index
- References
4 - What can we do? A critical response to social contexts
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 October 2025
Book contents
- Engaging with Social Work
- Acknowledgement of Country
- Engaging with Social Work
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Foreword to the second edition
- About the authors
- Acknowledgements
- Acronyms and abbreviations
- 1 The critical potential of social work
- 2 Contemporary practice contexts: Enduring social forces
- 3 The new normal: Contemporary and emerging challenges and opportunities for social work
- 4 What can we do? A critical response to social contexts
- 5 How did we get here? The history of critical social work
- 6 Values and ethics for critical practice
- 7 Theories for practice
- 8 Social work practice
- 9 Diversity, power and knowledge
- 10 Fields of practice: Challenges and opportunities
- 11 Advancing critical social work into the future
- Glossary
- References
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter provides an overview of some of the key practice strategies that social workers use to try to challenge and arrest the massive social inequalities we explored in the previous chapters. The theory and practices of critical social work help us to devise creative and effective ways to contest and resist the harms created by oppressive social forces. Developing our capacity for critical analysis is an important first step that underpins all other practices outlined in this chapter: social policy analysis and development; social activism, allyship and participation in social movements; critical practice in organisations; and undertaking social research. These practices connect practitioners with discretionary spaces in which they can work towards social justice and emancipatory aims.
Keywords
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- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Engaging with Social WorkA Critical Introduction, pp. 109 - 133Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
References
Further reading
Gardner, F. 2016, ‘Working actively within the organization’, in Working with Human Service Organisations, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hendrix, E., Barusch, A. & Gringeri, C. 2021, ‘“Eats me alive!”: Social workers reflect on practice in neoliberal contexts’, Social Work Education, 40(2), 161–73, https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2020.1718635CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ife, J. 2016, ‘The organisational context’, in Community Development in an Uncertain World: Vision, Analysis and Practice, 3rd ed., Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jirek, S. L. 2020, ‘Ineffective organizational responses to workers’ secondary traumatic stress: A case study of the effects of an unhealthy organizational culture’, Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance, 44(3), 210–28, https://doi.org/10.1080/23303131.2020.172230Google Scholar
Morley, C., Marshall, L. & Legatt-Cook, C. 2023, ‘How can critical reflection improve social work practice with children and families?’, The British Journal of Social Work, 53(6), 3181–99, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcad088CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murphy, C. 2021, ‘A more “child-centred” system? Child protection social workers’ willingness to employ discretion’, The British Journal of Social Work, 51, 2155–72, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcae177CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noble, C., Gray, M. & Johnston, L. 2016, Critical supervision for the human services, Jessica Kingsley.Google Scholar
O’Neill, P. & Mar Fariña, M. 2018, ‘Constructing critical conversations in social work supervision: Creating change’, Clinical Social Work Journal, 46, 298–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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