Critical Realism for Welfare Professions PDF Download

Author: Monica Kjørstad
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315517515
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
As a discipline, social work needs an inclusive metatheory for both research and practice that goes beyond positivism and constructivism. This is the first book to present and discuss how critical realism can contribute to a more useful and realistic approach to both research and practice in social work. As a theory of science that includes normative theories and emphasises method-pluralism and holistic thinking, critical realism is applicable to a world of poverty, global health problems and social conflicts. Contributors to this book present a realist perspective on social work. The connection between critical realism and social work is illuminated through a theoretical introduction in Part 1. Part 2 covers the specific topics of normativity, interdisciplinarity and education. Part 3 presents practical/empirical examples from contemporary research in social work, using different approaches based on critical realism. As critical realism can contribute to a useful and realistic approach to research and practice, this book is essential reading for professionals, academics and students working in different fields of social work and health care.

Author: Alpesh Maisuria
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000804615
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
This international and interdisciplinary collection gathers stories from researchers and research students about their methodological encounters with critical realism. Whether the contributors are experienced or novice researchers, they are predominantly new to critical realism. For various reasons, as the contributors’ detail, they have all been drawn to critical realism. It is well known that critical realism can be bewildering and even overwhelming to newcomers, especially to those unfamiliar with language of, and without a grounding in, philosophy. While there are now numerous and important introductory and applied critical realist texts that make critical realism more accessible to a broader audience, stories from newcomers have been absent – especially as part of a single collection. The significance and uniqueness of this collection lies in its documentation of first-hand reflective insights on the practical use and implementation of critical realism. The contributors feature critical realist inspired research journeys in Australia, England, Scotland, Belgium, Sweden, and Spain. The hope of this book is that the stories and accounts presented in it will inspire – or at least sufficiently arouse – the curiosity of others to explore critical realist possibilities, which we believe offer enormous value to serious researchers across and within all disciplines and subjects who are interested in rigorous intellectual work with a socially progressive purpose.

Author: Alderson, Priscilla
Publisher: Policy Press
ISBN: 1447354559
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Critical realism, as a toolkit of practical ideas, helps researchers to extend and clarify their analyses. It resolves problems arising from splits between different research approaches, builds on the strengths of different methods and overcomes their individual limitations. This original text draws on international examples of health and illness research across the life course, from small studies to large trials, to show how versatile critical realism can be in validating research and connecting it to policy and practice. To meet growing demand from students and researchers, this book is based on the course at UCL, first taught by Roy Bhaskar, the founder of critical realism.

Author: Christian Franklin Svensson
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000810224
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
Globally, social work faces increasingly complex cultural, political, economic, legal, organisational, technological and professional conditions. Critically reflecting on the subject, this book heightens critical consciousness among social work researchers, educators, practitioners and students about the structural dimensions of social problems and human suffering; it highlights the inter-relationship between agency and structure and discusses strategies to challenge and change both individual and societal consciousness. Offering the reader an opportunity to gain in-depth understanding of how critical reflection is possible in contemporary social work research, practice and education, it will be required reading for all social work scholars, students and professionals.

Author: Masoud Kamali
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351620215
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
How have three decades of neoliberalism affected the Nordic welfare states as well as the organisation, education and practices of social work in those countries? During recent decades the welfare states of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden have gone through dramatic changes infl uenced by the political triumph of neoliberalism. This has led to both the electoral success of extreme right and mainstream neoliberal parties, and to the neoliberal ideological transformations of social democratic parties. The neoliberal doctrine of making governance cheaper has thus been made the focus of governance and has led to increased marginalisation and social problems. This is the first book to comparatively explore the role of neoliberal reforms on social work and social policy across the Nordic welfare states. The richly theoretical and empirical chapters explore and illustrate the consequences of the dominance of neoliberal policies and provide an analysis of the effects of globalisation, glocalisation, welfare nationalism, symbolic violence and forced migration. The book provides valuable insights into the shortcomings of retreating welfare states in a time of increasing glocal social problems. Neoliberalism, Nordic Welfare States and Social Work should be considered essential reading for critical social work education. Students, scholars, educators and researchers of Nordic countries and beyond have much to learn from this book.

Author: John S. Brekke
Publisher:
ISBN: 019088066X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
Shaping a Science of Social Work provides a basic framework for a social work science in terms of basic constructs, domains, and characteristics, considered within the context of academic disciplinarity and professional identity. Centered on the formation of social work science from a realist/critical-realist position, contributions from eminent scholars offer detailed and rigorous analyses of various essential issues.

Author: Blom, Björn
Publisher: Policy Press
ISBN: 1447327195
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
This collection provides new insights about current welfare professions in a number of European countries. Focusing on research representing different types of European welfare states, including the Scandinavian and the Continental, the book offers in-depth understandings of professionals’ everyday work within different contextual conditions, explored from empirical and theoretical perspectives. Subjects covered include knowledge and identity, education and professional development, regulation, accountability, collaboration, assessment and decision making. This is a valuable contribution to the discussion of professionalism and welfare professions, offering lessons learned and ways forward.

Author: Bob Pease
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315399164
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 429

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Book Description
This book argues that the concept of care is a political and a moral concept. As such, it enables us to examine moral and political life through a radically different lens. The editors and contributors to the book argue that care has the potential to interrogate relationships of power and to be a tool for radical political analysis for an emerging critical social work that is concerned with human rights and social justice. The book brings a critical ethics of care into the realm of theory and practice in social work. Informed by critical theory, feminism, intersectionality and post-colonialism, the book interrogates the concept of care in a wide range of social work settings. It examines care in the context of social neglect, interdisciplinary perspectives, the responsibilisation agenda in social work and the ongoing debate about care and justice. It situates care in the settings of mental health, homelessness, elder care, child protection, asylum seekers and humanitarian aid. It further demonstrates what can be learnt about care from the post-colonial margins, Aboriginal societies, LGBTI communities and disability politics. It demonstrates ways of transforming the politics and practices of care through the work of feminist mothers, caring practices by men, meditations on love, rethinking self-care, extending care to the natural environment and the principles informing cross-species care. The book will be invaluable to social workers, human service practitioners and managers who are involved in the practice of delivering care, and it will assist them to challenge the punitive and hurtful strategies of neoliberal rationalisation. The critical theoretical focus of the book has significance beyond social work, including nursing, psychology, medicine, allied health and criminal justice.

Author: Joe Duffy
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351366343
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
International Perspectives on Social Work and Political Conflict provides an important basis for readers to recognise and understand the unique and specialist role that social workers have played and continue to play in international contexts of political conflict. Social workers make an important contribution in these difficult and sometimes dangerous situations across all continents. This book highlights the importance of social work in these very challenging contexts. The first part of this book includes four chapters that summarise the existing knowledge base. The second part focuses on a case study of Northern Ireland where, for the first time, a detailed examination of the social work role was completed which involved researching the views of social work practitioners, managers and educators. Part three then draws together international experts in the field who have written chapters on those regions where social workers have been dealing with long standing periods of political conflict. At a time when violent conflagrations are currently a feature of many countries and regions across the continents of the world, this book offers a critical view of the social work role in these contexts and should thus be considered essential reading for all social work academics, students and professionals working in conflict-affected societies.

Author: Maritta Törrönen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317240804
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
A sense of participation and opportunities to share and participate in activities or groups that are important to them are crucial factors in human wellbeing. This book provides a robust empirical and theoretical analysis of reciprocity and its implications for social work and social policy practices by discussing how ideas of reciprocity can be understood and applied to welfare policy and social care practices, as well as how the act of reciprocity supports the wellbeing of citizens. Contributions from Finland, Germany, Russia, the UK, the USA and Canada illuminate the ways in which socio-political contexts influence the power relations between citizens, practitioners and the state, and the potential (or otherwise) for reciprocity to flourish. It will be essential reading for social care practitioners, researchers and educationalists as well as postgraduate students in social work and related social care and community-oriented professions and social policy makers.