CSS 1000 F24 Final Exam Review - Social Work Theories

CSS 1000 FINAL REVIEW ARES READING SUMMARIES UNIT 7 **Healy, Karen (2014). Social Work Theories in Context -- Creating Frameworks for Practice. Palgrave. Healy (2014), Chapter 9: Modern Critical Social Work: From Radical to Anti-oppressive Practice** Critical theorists examine the socially constr...

CSS 1000 FINAL REVIEW ARES READING SUMMARIES UNIT 7 **Healy, Karen (2014). Social Work Theories in Context -- Creating Frameworks for Practice. Palgrave. Healy (2014), Chapter 9: Modern Critical Social Work: From Radical to Anti-oppressive Practice** Critical theorists examine the socially constructed character of society. Shows how ruling and powerful groups are able to justify injustice and inequality by their control of: - Language - Media - Education - Political agenda and terms of debate Characteristics of Critical Social Work: 1. A commitment to solidarity with oppressed and excluded individuals/communities. 2. Identifying and acknowledging power differentials in all human relationships. 3. Recognizing the influential role of social, economic, and political systems in shaping experience, opportunities, and relationships. 4. Commitments to the transformation of the processes and structures perpetuating domination and exploitation. Diversifications of modern critical social work practices exist, including: - Radical - Marxist - Feminist - Structural Social Work Five Key principles of Anti-Oppressive Practice: 1. Critical Reflection on Self in Practice 2. Critical Assessment of Service User's Experiences of Oppression 3. Empowering Service Users 4. Working in Partnership 5. Minimal Intervention **Healy, Karen (2014). Social Work Theories in Context -- Creating Frameworks for Practice. Palgrave. Healy (2014), Chapter 10: Postmodern Approaches to Practice** Key Concepts in Postmodern Approaches - Discourse: refers to the language practices through which knowledge, truth, our sense of selves, and social relations are constructed. - Subjectivity: refers to our sense of ourselves. - Power: a product of discourse, an ever-present and productive feature of social relations. - Deconstruction: describes the process of identifying and undermining oppositions through which discourses represent things (knowledge, identity, and other social phenomena). Narrative therapy is among the most well-developed and celebrated illustration of the application of "post" theory ideas to the development of social work practices. Four key principles of the narrative approach: 1. Focus on the Narratives that shape service user's lives 2. Separate the person from the problem 3. Reconstruct the dominant story of the self 4. Co-constructing narrative through and with community