Critical Thoughts on American Social Work and the Crisis of Modernity: Lessons From Theory and Current Events |
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Authors: | Kevin Cherry |
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Institution: | School of Social Work, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA |
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Abstract: | Social work in America is at a curious junction: continue down the status quo path of professionalization or embrace an antagonistic and critical, political stance toward global institutions and the logics of injustice. This article defines the junction as a crisis of modernity wherein the institutions and logics reflecting modernity’s primary forms—capitalism and democracy—suffer material and affective setbacks. The New Social Work Left movement is advocated as a useful response to the crisis of modernity, and initial strategies are offered for fostering a New Social Work Left in the United States. |
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Keywords: | Modernity neoliberalism New Social Work Left politics radical social work |
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