'Anti-oppressive practice': emancipation or appropriation?

Summary This article offers an initial critical discussion of the conceptof anti-oppressive practice - AOP - from the perspectives ofservice users. Whilst acknowledging the emancipatory aspirationsof anti-oppressive practice, it also considers its regressivepotential. AOP has become central in social work theory andpractice and indeed is sometimes presented as a key approachand theory of social work. This discussion highlights the failureso far significantly to involve service users and their organizationsin the development of anti-oppressive theory and practice. Itconsiders how the ideology and structures of anti-oppressivesocial work impact upon service users; the problems raised by'expert' appropriation of users' knowledges and experiencesand the issues raised by the failure so far to address the useof social work and social care services as an area of differenceand category of social division. Finally, the article examinesalternatives to existing notions of anti-oppressive practicebased on the equal involvement of service users.     

Connecting Anti-racist and Anti-oppressive Theory and Practice: Retrenchment or Reappraisal?

Correspondence to Charlotte Williams, Centre for Applied Community Studies, University of Wales, Bangor, Bangor LL57 2UW, UK. Summary In this paper the author offers a review of some of the majorcritiques of anti-racist theory and practice within social workand critically examines the trend towards anti-oppressive theoryand practice as the ‘way forward’. She argues thatthe uncritical acceptance of the move away from specificallyanti-racist perspectives towards the broader approach of anti-oppressivepractice may lead towards the retrenchment of all such criticalperspectives within social work rather than their regeneration.The author concludes that such a rigorous review will more fullyground the moves towards anti-oppressive practice as a paradigmfor social work.     

Strange Meeting: Marxism, Psychoanalysis and Social Work

Summary It is suggested that the polarity between Marxism and psychoanalysisis one factor hindering the development of social work's professionalidentity. The first section of the article suggests ways inwhich a dialogue between the two perspectives might be established.In the second section such a dialogue is applied to a numberof central concepts in social work theory and practice.     

The African-Centred Worldview: Developing a Paradigm for Social Work

Correspondence to Mekada J. Graham, c/o 97 Acton Lane, London NW10 8UT, UK. E-mail: mekadag{at}yahoo.com Summary This article raises concerns about the ethnocentric nature ofexisting paradigms within the social sciences that form thebasis for social work theory and practice with black familiesand children. In addition, it highlights the theoretical deficitswithin existing social work models that do not reflect the worldviewsof diverse communities in British society. Can existing socialwork models continue to express ethnocentric value systems asthe universal way to explain human behaviour in the light ofgrowing demands for pluralism not only between groups but alsobetween epistemologies and worldviews? The author argues foran alternative paradigm that is grounded in the cultural andhistorical reality of the black experience. A broad base of information and discussion of the African-centredworldview and the development of African-centred perspectivesin social work is explored. African-centred perspectives insocial work challenge the profession to express its core principlesof equality, social justice and self-determination in embracingalternative worldviews and paradigms as legitimate and validbases for social work theory and practice.     

The Promise and the Pitfalls of Learned Helplessness Theory for Social Work Practice

Summary Because it articulates a psychology of powerlessness and becauseit focuses on the interactions between the individual and thesocial environment, Learned Helplessness Theory deserves tobecome an important new practice theory within social work.However, the theory also suffers from certain unresolved problemswhich currently limit its usefulness. This paper reviews LearnedHelplessness Theory for social workers and directs the attentionof practitioners to some crucial theoretical issues to be bornein mind when applying the theory to practice.     

Understanding Social Work: A Matter of Interpretation?

Correspondence to University of Exeter, Department of Sociology, Amory Building, Rennes Drive, Exeter EX4 4RJ. Summary In undertaking a piece of research, one can expect to encounterintellectual puzzles along the way. Here, the story is recountedof one particular puzzle that arose when examining learningprocesses in social work. An extract from a research interviewis presented and the learning represented by the social worker'sactivity and opinions is interpreted in three distinctive ways,drawing on perspectives in sociology, education and feminism.Consideration turns to the process of interpretation itselfand recent ideas encountered through literary theory are invokedas a means towards appreciating interpretive practice. In sofar as both social workers and researchers consider themselvesengaged with the issues multiple interpretations pose, it issuggested that this brand of literary theory may be of valuethrough its illumination of the construction and deconstructionof understandings.     

Disability and Social Work: Applications from Poststructuralism, Postmodernism and Feminism

Correspondence to Barabara Fawcett, Department of Applied Social Studies, University of Bradford, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD7 1DP, UK. Summary In this article it is argued that poststructural and postmodernperspectives have something useful to offer social work, providedthese orientations are informed by the ‘social criticalpower of feminism’ (Fraser and Nicholson, 1993, p. 428).A case study is used to consider the utility of applying feministpoststructural and postmodern perspectives. It is contendedthat these orientations not only serve to link practice to theoryin a different way and to open up new avenues for exploration,but can also be seen to make a contribution to the debate aboutthe current constitution of social work.     

Towards a Theory of Social Work Expertise

Correspondence to Prof. Jan Fook, School of Social Inquiry, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria 3217, Australia Summary This paper begins by summarizing the results of a qualitativeexploratory study of thirty experienced social workers whichwas undertaken in order to identify some characteristics ofsocial work expertise. Some of the features identified includea confidence with professional identity and an ability to dealwith complexities. Participants were also able quickly to prioritizerelevant factors and were aware of constraints and resources,but made conscious use of formal theory only minimally. Thefull results of this study are reported elsewhere (Fook et al.,in press). The main purpose of this paper is to explore theimplications of these results in developing a theory of socialwork expertise. The issues examined include the debates aroundthe relationship between theory and practice in social work,the generic versus the specialist nature of social work, therelevance of existing theories of expertise to social work,and the affirmation of artistic elements of social work practice.     

Bridging the Gap: a Model for Intergrating Theory and Practice

Summary The important role of theory in social work practice is generallyacknoledged by the process of applying theory to practilce hasonly recently been subjected to rigorous scrutiny. This articleattemps to demonstrate how theory in embedded in practice andsuggests ways in which modern technology and adult methods oflearning can help students to master the process of systematicallyapplying theory to pratice.     

No more than Contact: An Outcome of Social Work

Summary This study of the experiences of eight sets of clients withtheir respective social workers illustrates how the outcomeof each case is a reflection of each party's interpretationsof crucial aspects of their meetings. In many respects it isa one-sided picture of social work but part of its purpose isto emphasize the process whereby past events and present circumstancesaffecting both parties' perspectives make it probable that manyclients will fail to obtain help and will regard their meetingswith social workers as being little different from passing contactswith other 'officials' who feature in their lives.     

Social Work Assessment Processes in Work with Ethnic Minorities-the Doshi Family

Summary The authors describe a framework for assessment which they developedin a book on practice theory (Curnock and Hardiker, 1979). Thisframework was used by them to guide the practice described withthe Doshi family and to analyse the social work processes involved.This paper concludes with an evaluation of the practice.     

Developing an interactive approach in social work research: the example of a research study on head injury

Summary The paper examines the processes of a research project aboutthe continuing care needs of head-injured people in order toillustrate an interactive approach in social work research.Influenced by the social work values of empowerment and workingin partnership, the key function of the interactive approachinclude a multidisciplinary research team analysing the researchtopic through different disciplinary perspectives, and selectingresearch methods and dissemination strategies that promote interactiverelationships amongst researchers, respondents and sponsors.Social work practice supplies transferable knowledge, valuesand skills for the interactive approach. The skill of negotiationis used to mitigate unequal distributions of power between researchersand respondents. The paper concludes that the interactive approachis a distinctive characteristic of social work research thatdeserves wider recognition.     

Inflated States and Empty Theories in Social Work

Summary The recommended knowledge base of social work is seen to bewide-ranging on the one hand, and subject to divides and tensionson the other. This state of affairs is reviewed briefly. Anargument is then developed which maintains that only certaintypes of activity within the considerable range often identifiedas social work, offer a clear suggestion that the job whichis being described is that of social work. These various activitiesand practices appeal to different kinds of theory and knowledge.As the knowledge base and practical possibilities of the jobhave become increasingly elaborate and extensive, an argumentwhich recommends that social workers recover a simplier notionof what they are about also entails the idea that social workis a job which is seen to have necessary and definite limitsto its practice and theory.     

Service users' knowledges and social work theory: conflict or collaboration?

Summary So far, service users have not been systematically involvedin social work theorizing. However, disabled peoples's movements,mental health service users/survivors and other service usershave developed their own knowledges based on direct experienceand they have generated their own conceptual frameworks andbodies of theory. There are fundamental problems in social workseeking to interpret service user knowledges. Their developmentsand interpretation require the direct involvement of serviceusers and their organization in social work theorizing. Thereare strong practical, philosophical and political argumentsfor involving the knowledges and theories of service users andtheir organizations in the process of social work theory-building.This paper considers an inclusive approach to social work theorizing.While highlighting the importance of service users and theirorganizations being effectively included in social work theorizing,it also argues the need for them to have support and opportunitiesto develop their own prior and separate discussions about theory,including social work theory.     

Toward Generic Social Work Practice--a Review and Some Innovations

Summary This essay reviews the development of the generic concept andoffers three models and several concepts that are seen as relevantto the progress of generic theory for social work practice.A major gap in professional social work has been identified.The generic approach is seen as having exciting potential foreducating and training multi-skilled social workers, but a greatdeal of head and heart work is necessary before the idea ofgeneric social work can become a practical and viable reality     

An Interview: Constructing Reality

Summary This paper is concerned with the relevance of interactionistperspectives in sociology to social work practice. Crucial tothese perspectives are the ‘meanings’ that peoplegive to situations and the ways they interpret actions. Basically,they are grounded on the assumption that there is no such thingas a single social reality. There are many different constructionswhich depend on the identities of the different people involvedand on the context in which they occur. The paper is based ontape recorded excerpts from an interview between a client, MrsSmith, and a social worker, from a discussion about some aspectsof that interview between the social worker and the writer,and from a discussion about the case between the team leaderand the writer. This material suggests different interpretationsof the situation, information gained in the discussion withthe social worker providing new ideas about the original interview.The views of the different people involved indicate that itis helpful to take into account the organizational context ofthe interviews. It is also suggested that conceiving of interviewsas ways of constructing reality has implications for the studyof social work practice.     

Police and Social Work Relations--Problems and Possibilities

Summary The Barclay Report advocates a closer working partnership betweensocial workers and citizens; various policing policies are basedon similar foundations. Government policies place considerableemphasis on inter-agency work involving the police and the socialservices. In this paper, it is argued that co-operative inter-agencywork seems feasible between managers in the social servicesand in the police. When the perspectives of fieldworkers inboth services are considered conflict and suspicion seems toprevail. It is argued that once some of the myths surroundingthe practice of police and social work are pared away, a newbasis for the appreciation and development of inter-agency workmay be apparent.     

Social Work: Gender, Care and Justice

Correspondence to: Joan Orme, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, Lilybank House, Bute Gardens, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8RT, UK. Summary This article, in examining gender and justice, seeks to examinethe relationship between feminist theory and social work. Specificallyit reviews writings on social work ethics and suggests thatlittle attention has been paid to feminist scholarship thatresonates with social work practice. Focusing primarily on communitycare, it demonstrates how debates within feminism have becomemore complex and have problematized understandings of both careand justice. It argues that for social work it is unhelpfulto dichotomize justice and care; we should aspire to just socialwork practice.     

Cautionary Tales From Beginning Practitioners: The Fate of Personal Models of Social Work in Beginning Practice

Summary The relationship between professional education and beginningpractice is examined by considering whether the personal modelsof social work developed and reviewed by the individual duringsocial work education survived the transition from student toautonomous practitioner. Fifteen University of Queensland socialwork graduates were engaged in a task of making explicit theirpersonal models of social work, by way of repertory grid technique,in their first eight months of employment. The repertory gridwas used as a conversational tool to monitor the developmentof and changes in their personal models of social work. Thesocial workers were thus engaged in a process consciously reflectingon the meaning of, and the reasons for, these developments andchanges. Whilst the study found that personal models do survivethe transition to social work practice, it also highlightedareas of concern. On the whole graduates did not feel preparedfor work, and the initial period of practice was one of considerabledifficulty. Many experienced considerable difficulty in subsumingthe organizational context within their personal model of socialwork.     

Professional Ideology, Middle Range Theories and Knowledge Building for Social Work Practice

Please address requests for reprints to Professor F. M. Loewenberg, School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, 52100 Ramat Gan, Israel. Summary More effective social work practice will require increased effortstoward knowledge building and theory development. Until a unifiedsocial work theory is available social workers will choose eclecticallyrelevant theoretical formulations from the large number of middlerange theories available to them from other professional disciplines.New middle range theories and innovative theoretical formulationsappear continually, resulting in a smorgasbord of theories,from which social work practitioners can choose. This articleexamines the effectiveness of an aclectic theory base for apractice profession. In the discussion of the findings noteis taken of the need for explicating social work's professionalideology as a next step in knowledge building.