SWP Final exam guide

• Critical hope


  Hopeful action that is based on the critical analysis of a situation and the recognition that wishing alone is not sufficient to make change
• Sources of confusion in critical social work

  • The number and variation of critical social work perspectives
  • Previously marginalized social work perspectives being portrayed alongside critical social work
  • A gap in critical social work literature
• Pedagogy


  Educational processes that are congruent with critical social work
• Most beginning learners seek certainty and consistency: you want to learn the 'right' way to be a 'good' social worker. However, critical social work is often contradictory, complex, disconcerting, and requires emotional labor
• The goal of critical social work is to identify the multiple possibilities of the present in order to contribute to the creation of a more just social world
• Perspective


  An outlook or narrative map from which one views, interprets, and understands the various phenomena of everyday life
• Narrative map


  The consciousness platform on which we act, through which we know who we are
• Elements of critical social work (CSW)

  • Valued
  • Assumptions
  • Theories
  • Practices
  • Principles
  • Concepts
• Typical dictionary definitions of 'critical' are not relevant to critical social work
• Critical theory


  A sociological and philosophical theory that evolved from the 'Frankfurt School' of German social thinkers
• Critical theorists assert that the role of theory is to help us move beyond understanding and explaining society to critiquing and changing society. Critical social workers are therefore committed to transforming the profession of social work and the unjust nature of society
• Critical theorists assert that all social relationships, whether at micro, meso, or macro levels, are political. In the context of critical theory, to politicize something is to introduce the idea that everything has political elements such as struggle over power, resources, and affirming identities. Critical social workers therefore include an analysis of power and understanding social relationships as both personal and political
• Primary assumptions


  Typically unquestioned, taken-for-granted truths that we are not even aware of until they are specifically considered
• Secondary assumptions


  Additional layers of beliefs that are rooted in, and thereby consistent with, the underlying set of primary assumptions
• The foundational assumptions of critical social work incorporate a mix of modernist, post structuralist, post-colonial, and postmodernist thought
• Knowledge is not understood to be 'out there' waiting to be discovered. It is actively and socially constructed and interpreted
• Objectivity is a myth and truth is determined by those who have the power to define a particular interpretation of knowledge as correct
• Critical social work grew from a modernist, materialist perspective which means that it initially focussed on the concrete realities of life and frequently neglected spiritual concerns. This is being challenged by recognizing multiple ways of 'meaning making'
• Critical social workers understand human nature to be fluid and malleable and therefore susceptible to multiple influences. Accordingly, our individual identities are significantly influenced by our social positioning and how others see us
• Critical social workers do not accept the notion that social identities such as race determine who a person is. On the contrary, humans are understood to be active participants in shaping their own lives
• Critical social workers assume that a better social world is possible and that the achievement of a better social world requires a qualitative change in current social relations
• Values


  What a person, group, or culture considers important
• Social work is a normative profession, this means that values and knowledge influence our analysis and decision making. Critical social work is grounded in values of equity and equality, community, inclusiveness, democracy, celebration of diversity, human rights, sustainability, harmony, cooperation, interdependence, and social transformation
• Theories


  Speculative ways of describing, explaining, and making meaning of the events in our lives
• The theoretical foundations of critical social work primarily rest on sociology, anthropology, politics, and education as these disciplines are consistent with social work's desire to critique and transform society
• Concepts


  The building blocks of theory
• Some social work concepts that go along with prominent sociological, anthropological, political, and educational theories

  • Oppression
  • Domination
  • Privilege
  • Individual and social identity
  • Individualization
  • Complexity
  • Context
  • History
• Principles


  Brief, clear statements that provide people with general guidance and direction
• Principles of critical social work

  • Strive to achieve congruence among their values
  • Politicize their work by linking personal issues to public conditions
  • Not dismiss standardized knowledge and practices but understand the contextual nature of practice and vary their actions in relation to context
  • Work at multiple levels of practice
  • Center the voices and experiences of the marginalized
  • Work in partnership with and value the knowledge of service users
  • Attend to all components of life
  • Establish and maintain ethical relationships that respect the uniqueness of communities
  • Work comfortably and competently in the midst of contradiction and uncertainty
  • Embrace critical reflexivity
• Practices


  The actual actions people engage in during their day to day lives
• Four processes of critical social work

  • Engagement (listening, dialogue, group work, etc.)
  • Teaching and learning (diagnosis and analysis, identifying support resources, assessment, etc.)
  • Action and accompaniment (challenging oppression, building coalitions, advocacy, etc.)
  • Evaluation, critical reflection, and celebration (initiating, recognizing success, appreciating contributions, etc.)
• Marginalized social work approaches include Afro-centric, Aboriginal, and Queer. These have each enriched critical social work, but are not prominent within mainstream social work
• The use of shared words and images is not always indicative of shared perspectives
• The actual work done by critical social workers can resemble the world done by mainstream social workers. But the practice is not the same: a more nuanced examination shows that there are subtle but fundamental differences that arise primarily from differences in fundamental assumptions
• Healy and Fook both advocate the idea of contextual practice as a way of addressing the dilemma of practicing social work amongst all its differing perspectives. Healy assets that an essential element of critical social work is analyzing and understanding institutional context
• Fook claims that if practice is truly contextual, there is no longer an opposition between practice and environment
• Critical social work is not a theory that one applies, but is a way of being, or a mental model of reality. It framed how you explain, understand, and make meaning of any situation
• Social workers are guided by their practice purpose, which varies considerably across institutional contexts and among practice situations. Many factors contribute to our sense of practical purpose, including the philosophies and ideas shaping our institutional context
• Social work majorly varies by context for three reasons: it lacks a common knowledge base and agreed ways of building knowledge, it does not have a primary instructional base, and the social service agencies in which we practice vary in a number of ways
• The primary task of social work varies by practice context. Across the different practice contexts, the primary task of social work is extremely varied and may include things such as therapy, risk management, research, etc.