Rethinking Feminist Theories For Social Work Practice

Feminist social work has clear goals to expose and critically analyse gendered power as a dynamic, historic, and structural concept embedded in our world, and to mobilise and take social action to challenge that power. This is integral to a commitment to the core values of the social work profession, which include a commitment to human rights, social justice and professional integrity. This edited collection brings a range of academic and practitioner scholarship to centre feminist theories, values and knowledge as they apply to social work practice, theory and education. It engages with feminist thinking to re-emphasise and refocus the centrality of gender and its intersections with other axes of identities such as social class, race, disability, sexuality and age, for understanding and analysing social work practice. This collection is a timely reminder of what feminist inquiry has to offer social work to successfully address contemporary challenges and is applicable to practitioners, scholars, educators, students and other key care professionals and policy makers.

"This book takes a contemporary look at the issues that affect women most from a feminist perspective. Going beyond the equal pay for equal work issue, we write about mental health, substance abuse, disabilities, parenting, relationships, criminal justice, and aging all from a holistic and intersectional perspective"--

Feminist theories of social work have been criticised in recent years for treating women as a uniform category and displaying insufficient sensitivity to the complex ways in which other social divisions (those of race, age, disability, etc.) impact on gender relations. This major text by a leading writer in the field seeks to develop a new framework for feminist social work that takes on board postmodernist arguments to do with difference and power yet retains a commitment to collective solidarity and social change. As such, it will be essential reading for students, educators and practitioners alike in social work.

This handbook highlights innovative and affect-driven feminist dialogues that inspire social work practice, education, and research across the globe. The editors have gathered the many (at times silenced) feminist voices and their allies together in this book which reflects current and contested feminist landscapes through 52 chapters from leading feminist social work scholars from the many branches and movements of feminist thought and practice. The breadth and width of this collection encompasses work from diverse socio-political contexts across the globe including Central and South America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, North America, Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia. The book is divided into six parts as follows: • Decoloniality, Indigeneity and Radical Theorising • Feminist Social Work in Fields of Practice • Academy and Feminist Research • The Politics of Care • Allyship, Profeminisms and Queer Perspectives • Social Movements, Engaging with the Environment and the More-than-Human The above sections present the diverse feminisms that have influenced social work which provides a range of engaging, informative and thought-provoking chapters. These chapters highlight that feminists still face the battle of working towards ending gender-based violence, discrimination, exploitation and oppression, and therefore it is urgent that we feature the many contemporary examples of activism, resistance, best practice and opportunities to emphasise the different ways feminisms remain central to social work knowledge and practice. It will be of interest to all scholars and students of social work and related disciplinary areas including the social and human sciences, global and social politics and policy, human rights, environmental and sustainability programmes, citizenship and women’s studies.

Reflective practice is at the heart of becoming a competent and confident social worker. It’s both a key element of learning and development on social work courses and an important aspect of social work practice. This accessible and introductory text explores a range of approaches to reflective practice, its main aim being to help you as a student become more confident in answering key questions, including ′what is reflective practice?′, ‘how do I develop as a reflective practitioner?’, ‘how do I maintain reflective practice in key contexts?’. There are sections on writing reflective journals, communicating well with service users and carers and reflective practice while on placements.

The question of whether there can be a distinctively female ethics is one of the most important and controversial debates in gender studies, philosophy and psychology today. Rethinking Feminist Ethics; Care, Trust and Empathy marks a bold intervention in these debates and bridges the ground between women theorists disenchanted with aspects of traditional ethics and traditional theories that insist upon the need for some ethical principles.

This reference work addresses the ideas that shape social work. Much of the social work literature addresses questions of theory and ethics separately, so that the body of thought that is represented in social work scholarship and research creates a distinction between them. However, the differences between these categories of thought can be somewhat arbitrary. This volume goes beyond this simple separation of categories. Although it recognises that questions of theory and ethics may be addressed distinctly, the connections between them can be made evident and drawn out by analysing them alongside each other. Social work's use and development of theory can be understood in two complementary ways. First, theory from the social sciences and other disciplines can be applied for social work; second, considered, systematic examinations of practice have enabled theory to be developed out of social work. These different approaches are usually referred to as 'theory for practice' and 'practice theory'. The advancement of social work theory occurs often through the interplay between these two dimensions, through research and scholarship in the field. Similarly, social work ethics draw on principles and concepts that have their roots in philosophical inquiry and also involve applied analysis in the particular issues with which social workers engage and their practices in doing so. In this way social work contributes to wider debates through advancement of its own perspectives and knowledge gained through practice. Social Work Theory and Ethics: Ideas in Practice offers a unique approach by bringing together the complementary dimensions of theory with each other and at the same time with ethical research and scholarship. It presents an analysis of the ideas of social work in a way that enables connections between them to be identified and explored. This reference is essential reading for social work practitioners, researchers, policy-makers, academics and students, as well as an invaluable resource for universities, research institutes, government ministries and departments, major non-governmental organisations, and professional associations of social work.

Now in its fifth edition, this international best-selling textbook is a classic in its field. Written by one of the leading names in social work, it provides a comprehensive and critical overview of the main practice theories that will act as a companion for students throughout their course and their career as a practitioner. In this substantially reworked and updated edition of his best-selling text, Malcolm Payne presents clear and concise evaluations of the pros and cons of major theories that inform social work practice, and comparisons between them. This is the ideal text for theory, methods and practice modules on qualifying social work courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level, as well qualified social work practitioners taking post-qualifying and CPD courses. New to this Edition: - Theory chapters divided up based on the three objectives in the IASSW/ISFW global definition of social work - New content on whiteness theory, post-colonial approaches and critiques of multicultural and anti-racist theories - Full treatment of Relational Practice and Attachment Practice in separate chapters - More space given to Green social work and environmental approaches