Structural Social Work

The need for an alternative to conventional social work is more obvious today than ever before. Given its acceptance of our present social order and its emphasis on reform of the individual and limited social reform, conventional social work appears powerless to deal with the increasing socialproblems that have already overloaded a diminishing welfare state. By continuing to recycle mainstream theories of social work practice that do nothing to change the present order, conventional social work actually contributes to the ideological hegemony of patriarchy, classism, racism and otheroppressive thought structures. The New Structural Social Work reveals the shortcoming of welfare capitalism as a social system and shows how conventional social work has failed to respond to systemic social problems. Mullaly presents a coherent and consistent theory of progressive social work, with oppression as its centralfocus, and examines elements of its political practice. It is shown how this practice is carried out within the social agency, outside the agency, and within the personal lives of structural social workers. This third edition has been extensively revised and updated, and includes.DT an expanded discussion of the political paradigms that influence social work in CanadaDT a new chapter on feminist, antiracist, and postmodernist critiques of the neo-conservative, liberal, social democratic, and Marxist paradigms that dominated the nineteenth and twentieth centuriesDT a new chapter that assesses the influence of the 'Third Way' and the role that social work plays in Third Way jurisdictions such as the UK.DT improved pedagogical aids to make this book more accessible to the mid-level university market.

The need for an alternative to conventional social work is more obvious today than ever before. Given its acceptance of our present social order and its emphasis on reform of the individual and limited social reform, conventional social work appears powerless to deal with the increasing social problems that have already overloaded a diminishing welfare state. By continuing to recycle mainstream theories of social work practice that do nothing to change the present order, conventional social work actually contributes to the ideological hegemony of patriarchy, classism, racism and other oppressive thought structures. The New Structural Social Work reveals the shortcoming of welfare capitalism as a social system and shows how conventional social work has failed to respond to systemic social problems. Mullaly presents a coherent and consistent theory of progressive social work, with oppression as its central focus, and examines elements of its political practice. It is shown how this practice is carried out within the social agency, outside the agency, and within the personal lives of structural social workers. This third edition has been extensively revised and updated, and includes. DT an expanded discussion of the political paradigms that influence social work in Canada a new chapter on feminist, antiracist, and postmodernist critiques of the neo-conservative, liberal, social democratic, and Marxist paradigms that dominated the nineteenth and twentieth centuries DTa new chapter that assesses the influence of the 'Third Way' and the role that social work plays in Third Way jurisdictions such as the UK. DT improved pedagogical aids to make this book more accessible to the mid-level university market. Package Contains: 9780195419061 New Structural Social Work 9780195433586 Documentation Guide for the Social Sciences

This classic text introduces students to the structural approach of social work practice, which assumes that many clients' problems arise from harmful social forces. By focusing on the construction of such realities as poverty, racism, and domestic violence, the structural approach counters the focus on individual change that is so common in our age of managed care and corporatization. For this edition Gale Goldberg Wood and Carol T. Tully have recast the text from the perspective of contemporary social constructionism without altering its main message and organization. They have added six new chapters, covering ethics, the role of the social worker as therapist and community organizer, learning and working within the organization, and the paradigm dilemma. In addition, case studies now include greater detail about the client's social context. Though much has changed since the first edition of this book was published, the need for well-trained, compassionate social workers remains. The Structural Approach to Direct Practice in Social Work continues to be an essential resource for practitioners who wish to help their clients confront oppressive social realities and affect system change through political action.

An up-to-date and thorough investigation of progressive social work theoryThis fully updated edition explores the shortcomings of welfare capitalism and reveals how conventional social work fails to respond to systemic social problems. By presenting a coherent theory of progressive social work with oppression as its focus, this text shows how students can incorporate aradical alternative to conventional social work within their own practice.

The second edition of this popular social work practice text more fully addresses the connection between social justice and human rights.

What we think must inform what we do, argue the editors and authors of this cutting-edge social work textbook. In this innovative, expansive and wide-ranging collection, leading social work thinkers engage with social work traditions to bridge social work theory and practice and arrive at social work praxis: a uniting of critical thought and ethical action. Critical Social Work Praxis is organized into sixteen sections, each reflecting a critical social work tradition or approach. Each section has a theory chapter, which succinctly outlines the tradition’s main concepts or tenets, a praxis chapter, which shows how the theory informs social work practice, and a commentary chapter, which provides a critical analysis of the tensions and difficulties of the approach. The text helps students understand how to extend theory into praxis and gives instructors critical new tools and discussion ideas. This book is the result of decades of experience teaching social work theory and praxis and is a comprehensive teaching and learning tool for the critical social work classroom.

"Colleen Lundy has created a wonderful synthesis of social work practice in a social justice context." - Lawrence Shulman, University at Buffalo School of Social Work

In the helping professions, codes of ethics and decision-making models have been the primary vehicles for determining what constitutes ethical practice. These strategies are insufficient since they assume that shared meanings exist and that the contradictory universal principles of codes can be reconciled. Also, these tools do not emphasize the significance of context for ethical practice. This book takes a new critical theoretical approach, which involves exploring how social workers construct what is ’ethical’ in their work, especially when they are positioned at the intersection of multiple paradoxes, including that of two opposing responsibilities in society: namely, to care for others but also to prevent others from harm. The book is built on narratives from actual front-line workers and therefore is more applicable and grounded for practitioners and students, offering many suggestions for sound practice. It illustrates that an understanding of ethics differs from worker to worker and is heavily influenced by context, workers’ values, and what they take up as the primary discourses that frame their perceptions of the profession. While recognizing the oppressive potential of social work, the book is rooted in a perspective that ethical practice can contribute to a more socially just society.