Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.

Pushpanjali
• Throughout the history of modern social work, activists have sought
to articulate the radical potential of social work. Through their
critical interrogations, these thinkers have contributed to the
evolution of a critical practice paradigm in social work. The social
movements of the 1960s provide backdrop for these developments,
when feminist and black struggles for equality raised questions
about long standing political, social and economic oppression.
Although critical social work in its various contemporary forms is a
relatively recent arrival in the history of social work. Radical
elements have long existed within the field. Some of these earlier
activities, such as Jane Addams work on social settlement house,
provides one illustration of critically oriented social work. But by
and large the critical practice has been piecemeal and remains
undocumented.

Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.

Pushpanjali
• A variety of critical influences has contributed to
powerful critique of social work and in some
instances to the development of alternative
modes of social work. There is a broad range of
models that can be identified as critical include-
anti-racist and multicultural social work , anti-
oppressive and anti-discriminatory social work,
feminist social work, various strands of
community work, Marxist social work, radical
social work and participatory and action forms of
research. Critical social work approaches share an
orientation towards radical social transformation.
Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.
Pushpanjali
 1.2 Critical social science tradition:
origin and development
• An effort to explore the common strand
running through all the different critical
approaches, throw light on the origin and
development of critical theory. Critical social
science theories have influenced much of
critical social work theory. The theoretical
lineage of critical science is deeply indebted to
Hegel and Marx. Another major contribution
to the critical theory paradigm is Frankfurt
school.
Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.
Pushpanjali
 The contribution of Hegel to critical
theory
• For Hegel, self-conscious reason enables humans to
recognize their dialectic relations to the world. In this
view, individual thought is not separate from reality but
is actively involved in creating it. For hegel the entire
history of civilization can be understood in terms of
dialectic process between theses-
contradiction(antitheses)- and syntheses.
• IN the process of becoming, there is a dialectical
conflict between the apparent reality and its self-
contradiction. In the dialectic tension between the two
poles, new syntheses emerges to resolve the
contradiction and than they become part of further
dialectic contest.
Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.
Pushpanjali
• Hegel’s notion of the dialectic and the conceptions of
the social totality, which are associated with it,
provided key philosophical forms that have been
incorporate into critical social theory
• The work of Marx is central to a range of modern
critical social thories. Indeed Marx is commonly
credited with founding g the critical theory tradition.
Although acknowledging his philosophical debt to
Hegel, Marx emphasized the material dimensions of
the dialectics. This inversion of the dialectic has
profound implications, which continue to be influential
in contemporary critical social science theories and
social movements.
Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.
Pushpanjali
• For Marx, the condition of the working class is one of
complete alienation. Alienated creatures are the ones
who do not recognize the world they have created as
their own world but rather take it as something ‘just
there’ something given, something alien and powerful
with which they must deal. In the mode of production
the proletariates are separated from recognizng their
true position, however their lived experience of
oppression provides a fundamental understanding and
motivation for revolutionary activity. Action is directed
then to developing the capacity of the proletariat to act
upon their shared class interests.

Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.

Pushpanjali
 Twentieth century development of
critical theory
• Marx’s influence on twentieth century critical
social theory has been profound. In the second
school of thought of the work of the Frankfurt
school including Horkheimer, Adorno, Marcuse
and Habermas can be located. Indeed the
Frankfurt school has focused on tracing the
linkage between the economic, political, social
and cultural realms. Nonetheless, in consent with
the work of Marx these theories continue to refer
to the social structure primarily, capitalism, as a
primary source of oppression.

Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.

Pushpanjali
 Habermas
• Habermas is a key influential figure of the
contemporary Frankfurt school theories . much of
Habermas’s work deals with processes of the
dialogue, In his attempt to understand the
possibilities of a genuine debate and consensus.
His critical theories prioritize communication
because in his view the achievement of a true
democracy requires genuine public participation
in public dialogue. Thus for Habermas one
contribution the critical theory can make to social
transformation is to promote authentic public
debate and consensus on issues of human need
Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.
Pushpanjali
 Key elements of critical social science
paradigm
• Critical social theories seek to explain the social
order- In their explanations of the social world,
critical social science theories give primacy to the
understanding of society as a totality. The various
critical social science theories apprehend the
social structure in different ways. For eg. Marxist
refer to the social totality as capitalism, radical
feminist identify patriarchy as a primary social
system, and some anti-racist activists nominate
the system of imperialism ( and the concomitant
Eurocentric ideals as fundamentally determining
the social order).
Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.
Pushpanjali
• For critical social scientists, then overarching social
structure is considered to fundamentally order social
relations at institutional and personal levels. For this
reason, critical social theorists adopt a descending order of
analyses in that local experiences are believed to be the
effect of an overarching social structure. The social totality
to which critical social scientists refer as a social and
historical entity.
• The particular form the totality takes is not permanently
fixed or essential but rather represents particular dialectical
processes, which may be overcome. Through their analysis
of the nature of the totality, critical social scientists seek to
provide insights for social transformations.

Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.

Pushpanjali
• A conflict perspective is central to the understanding
of power relations:- from a critical perspective, power
relations within the social totality are identified as
fundamentally conflictual.
• Critical theories stress the power dimension of the
dialectical struggle between opposing social groups.
This view insists that the conflicting interests of the
opposed classes are fundamentally irreconcilable and
that power of the elite is maintained at the expense of
the powerless. The power and privilege of groups
reinforce and reflect structural inequities.

Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.

Pushpanjali
• There is an enormous range of positions about the
sites of power and the relation between them, critical
theories see power as fundamentally linked to
domination. CST believes that there is a dialectical
relationship between power and overarching social
structures.
• In this dialectic relation there is a “ web of possibilities”
for agents, whose nature is both active and structured
to make choices and pursue. This position, that
humans both produce and are produced by the society
are an activist, emanicipatory conceptions of human
beings,

Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.

Pushpanjali
• For if humans are shaped by the social structure, they are
also capable of altering it. And as social actors have some
power to maintain or change the system; critical analysis is
intended to identify those whose interests are met via
maintenance of current social order.
• For although the activist conception of humans ascribed to
by critical theorists meant that oppressor and oppressed
contribute to social arrangements, the powerful are seen to
have an ongoing interest in its maintenance. In this sense,
greater responsibility for the unjust social order is
attributed to the powerful. Hence social change practice
involves fundamental confrontation of elites.

Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.

Pushpanjali
• An emphasis on rational self-consciousness as a precursor
to change- A third aspect of the critical social science
model is the promotion of rational self-conscious thought
in the process of personal and social liberation. As the
complicity of the oppressed in their own oppression is
largely, secured via, the dominant ideologies of the
particular society.
• For CST the subordination of the powerless occurs primarily
through the false ideological propositions to which they
adhere. Nonetheless, despite the acquiescence of the
oppressed, the fundamental conflict in society does not
disappear; It is this latent conflict that the critical social
theorists aim to expose and utilize as the motivation for
social change.
Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.
Pushpanjali
• Thus, social transformation requires a
consciousness raising process whereby the
oppressed can critically examine the dominant
ideologies of the society. Consciousness
raising strategies are aimed at assisting the
individual to identify the ways in which the
social structure shapes their experiences of
disadvantage.

Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.

Pushpanjali
• This reflective activity is oriented towards the naturalized
and self-limiting self-definitions and worldviews that have
been internalized by the oppressed. in this critical
reflection process the disadvantaged are enabled to reject
the dominant ideological positions as they came to rcognize
their genuine and ultimately shared interests.
• For critical social theorists, this awareness means that the
oppressed are liberated to make more authentic choices
about their lives and more importantly, contribute to the
creation of a social order that meets their genuine needs.
Consciousness raising is thus considered as a fundamental
precursor to radical social action.

Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.

Pushpanjali
• The participation of the oppressed in the process of
change- Critical social theories aim to empower their
audience to transform the social order. This means that
the critical social sciences theory must have an action
orientation that this process of change must be
intelligible to the oppressed.
• Critical theories emphasize the ability of people
particularly the oppressed to transform their collective
life circumstances. For critical social scientists:
enlightenment consists in the development of powers
of critical thinking and the will to use these powers to
fashion the nature and direction of life

Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.

Pushpanjali
• …it wishes its audience to overcome their powerlessness to
refashion its collective arrangements to meet its true
interests and ideals (Fay,1987;67).
• For example, Marx emphasizes that through self-conscious
and collective action, the working classes can transform
capitalist society. In short, then critical social sciences
stresses the capacity of the humans to transform society to
an ideal state.
• This ideal for critical social theorists is a society free of all
forms of domination and oppression. It is this
emanicipatory intent along with the belief in the capacity of
human reason and action to achieve it, which characterizes
critical social science.

Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.

Pushpanjali
development of a critical approach to
social work
• While a critical tradition has been present since the
birth of professional social work, it was not until the
1960s that a distinct body of critical practice theories
emerged. Since that time, critical authors have
persistently challenged the occupational self-image of
social work as caring profession by emphasizing the
complicity of social workers in the reproduction of
oppressive conditions within the practice context and
beyond it.
• Traditional social workers assume individual culpability
for the difficult personal and social circumstances faced
by the clients of the welfare state.

Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.

Pushpanjali
• By contrast, critical social workers claim to
redirect the practice towards the elimination
of the original structural causes faced by
service users.
• Over time, social work has become more
attuned to the impact of structural forces and
operations of power on people’s lives as an
important component of practice
interventions.

Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.

Pushpanjali
• These practice developments emphasize lived
experiences and the socio-structural aspects of
people’s lives as critical to understanding the situations
and in creating interventions strategies to meet their
needs.
• These shifts in social work perspectives point out the
value of giving voice to the lived experiences of
oppression in various contexts and situations. Because
of the profession’s direct contact with individuals,
many social workers easily adopted a maintenance
approach that ensured people coped with or dealt
their problems, adequately, thereby helping them to
adjust to their circumstances.
Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.
Pushpanjali
• This approach preserves the status quo and
practitioners took the attitude that society was
impartial and their role was primarily a practical one
that included probing into individual problem in
isolation. Any challenge to the social order or ‘business
as usual was believed to be contrary to
professionalism.
• As social movements of 1960s and 1970s gathered
pace, marginalized groups set about addressing their
virtual absence in mainstream texts. These new forms
of knowledge explored social experiences and hidden
histories from different vantage points and entered
into the profession of social work.
Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.
Pushpanjali
• Critical approaches are in part built on a critique of
orthodox social work and in part the emergence of an
activist radical tradition in social work.
• The critique of the individualistic focus of orthodox
social work highlighted that social work have to break
up with the professional doctrine that ascribes virtually
all of the problems that clients experience to defend in
personality development and family relationships. It
must be understood that this doctrine is as much a
political doctrine as an explanation of human
behaviour. It is an ideology that directs clients to blame
themselves for their travails rather than the economic
and social institutions that produce many of them.
Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.
Pushpanjali
• In the initial development of critical practice
canon, in the 1960s and 1970s, radical social
workers frequently emphasized the direct
connections between an individualizing practice
focus and social worker’s role as society’s
gatekeeper of the ‘status quo.
• Activists continue to seek a shift in the focus of
practice to the first causes of oppression in the
overarching social structure such as capitalism,
patriarchy and imperialism.
Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.
Pushpanjali
 critical social work : Concept and
approaches
• Critical social work refers to practice models that
incorporate an emanicipatory social change
orientation. The critical social sciences tradition
incorporates many of the theoretical perspectives that
underpin radical social change movements and
practices.
• A critical social theory frames its research and
conceptual framework, with an eye to the aims and
activities of humans through their self-conscious and
collective action, to achieve the emanicipatory vision
of a society free from domination (Leonard, 1994). The
basic tenets of this model are:

Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.

Pushpanjali
• Critical social approaches a commitment to standing
alongside oppressed and impoverished populations.
• The importance of dialogical relationship between
workers and service users.
• The recognition of the role of social, economic and
political systems in shaping individual experiences and
social relationships including interactions within the
practice context
• A commitment to the study of change, the move
towards change and the provocation of change; Critical
practice is oriented towards the transformation of
processes and structures that perpetuate domination

Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.

Pushpanjali
• and exploitation, and there is great confidence
in the emanicipatory potential of critical
practice models.
• Main thinking in critical social theory, as
outlined by Agger (1991, 1998:) and which has
a direct bearing on the conceptual evolution
of Critical Social Work, are

Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.

Pushpanjali
• ‘Domination’ is structural, yet also personally
experienced. It is achieved by ruling groups through a
mixture of external exploitation plus an internal self-
discipline or self-deception. This is the idea that people
also participate in their own oppression. As some
feminist might term it, people hold and perpetuate
‘self-defeating’ beliefs and customs.
• Thus the notion of ‘false consciousness’ is important.
There is a recognition that a false consciousness
operates within capitalist societies so that members of
the society cannot recognize that social relations are in
fact historically constructed and therefore
transformable.
Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.
Pushpanjali
• A critique of positivism as a major ideology, since this encourages
passivity and attitudes of fatalism. Social members see themselves
as removed from, disengaged or alienated from the power to act on
in their situation. Therefore there is a need to develop a
consciousness which is able to view ‘facts’ as pieces of history
which can be changed. ‘this emphasizes the power of agency, both
personal and collective, to transform society’ (Agger, 1998:5)
• The possibility for progress is inherent in critical social theory. It is
political in that it sees a role for critical social theory in raising
awareness about domination and the possibilities for social change.
Because it links this awareness about and the domination and the
possibilities for social change. Because it links this awareness of
structural domination with everyday experience, critical social
theory is voluntaristic rather than deterministic.

Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.

Pushpanjali
• As part of the critique of positivism, there is a
recognition that knowledge is not simply a
reflection of ‘empirical reality’, but is also
actively constructed by those studying it.
There is therefore a need to distinguish
between knowledge, which comes from causal
analysis and that comes from self-reflection
and interaction. This means that there needs
to be a reliance on communication as a major
transformative processes.
Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.
Pushpanjali
 The Dominant trends in Evolution of
Critical Social Work
• Despite the diversity of critical social work, virtually all of
these practice modules draw on the critical intellectual
traditions and radical social movements that gained
prominence during the late 1960s and 1970s.
• The term critical theory does not designate a unified
theoretical perspective. It is a term that embraces a variety
of different theoretical positions. Particularly in social work
, most of these perspectives are informed by some form of
critical theory, including Ife’s(1997) critical practice,
Mullaly’s (1997) ‘structural social work’ Thompson’s(1997)
‘anti-discriminatory’ practice and Pease and Fook’s (1999)
‘postmodern critical perspectives’. Feminist, anti-racist and
post-colonial perspectives in social work are also informed
by revised versions of critical social theory.
Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.
Pushpanjali
• Radical Social Work
• Radical social work attempted to highlight the
contradictions inherent in the welfare state as a tool of
capitalism to appease the poor, ease the conscience of the
wealthy classes and to ward off possible rebellion.
According to this view, the primary function of the welfare
state was social control. Welfare state in this analysis was
an essential tool of capitalism to contain individual and
collective pressures for change. Social workers were seen as
double agents, legitimating and ameliorating the existing
social order, while claiming to be working on behalf of the
client, social workers in reality were exercising socio-
political control by reinforcing and interpreting moral rules
for the existing social order.
Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.
Pushpanjali
• Social workers were seen to reinforce an ideology that concealed
the true nature of inequality within a capitalist society. The
reconceptualization of social work advocated by radical social
workers in the 1970s focused on changes in social values and a
redistribution of wealth. It was emphasized that a radical social
work could only be built on collective action with strong links
between Marxist theory, day-to-day practices of social worker and
politics. Because it was necessary for the working clas to become
conscious of its experiences as class to overcome its exploitation, it
was essential for both social workers and welfare clients to engage
together in this collective practice( Bailey and Brake, 1975, galper
1975). Social workers were thus called upon to have a far greater
social and political awareness and to get involved in political
processes that encouraged and supported movements of people
endeavouring to improve their own lives.

Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.

Pushpanjali
• Structural Social Work
• Structural social work was another strand of thoughts
which emerged during 1970s, practice frameworks
developed by Moreau (1977), moreu and
Leonard(1989) and Mullaly(1993, 1997). The structural
social work moved beyond dichotomising person and
situation, directing attention to the transactions
between specific social political and economic
situations. The key assessment question is the
relationship between a client’s personal problem ,
dominant ideology, and his material condition in the
class structure.’

Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.

Pushpanjali
• According to moreau, the concern for structural social
workers is with groups who are marginalized by an
ideology that supports, maintains and legitimates the
present social order . Mullaly further developed the
structural perspective.
• Mullaly further developed the structural perspective.
Underpinning this framework is the belief that
particular groups defined along lines of class, gender,
race, culture, sexuality, age ability and geographical
region experience inequality, a self perpetuating and
inherent part of capitalism. These groups are exclude
from meaningful participation in society.

Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.

Pushpanjali
• In broad terms, feminists (Dominelli& McLeod,1989)
agreed with the analysis of both radicals and
structuralists, but added the dimension of gender as a
structural concern in influencing individual lives.
Feminist social work models, in particular focused on
develoing the links between analysis and practice and
personal and political experience, which was
supposedly poorly developed in earlier radical
formulations. The main concern, however, with social
structure, and not blaming the individual ‘victim’ for
problems is a cornerstone of these radical, structural
and feminist approaches

Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.

Pushpanjali
• A commitment to a structural analysis of social,
and personally experienced problems, i.e. an
understanding of how personal problems might
be traced to socio-economic structures, and the
‘personal’ and ‘political’ realms are inextricably
linked. A critique of existing social arrangements
and social work’s complicity, and a corresponding
emphasis on emancipation and social change,
were the basic elements of a critical approach
embodied in radical, feminist and structural
writings.(Fook,2002)

Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.

Pushpanjali
Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.
Pushpanjali
Prepared for classroom discussion by Dr.
Pushpanjali