Critical Social Work – Considerations and Suggestions

Abstract

Social work is often described as socially oriented, politically sensitive and as taking a critical approach to ‘social problems’. However, recently we have seen how this self-image has lost ground. In the present article, we have discussed how demands for evidence and scientific evaluations of social work have gradually pushed the discipline and practice in the direction of psychological measurements and methods. Here, we will identify a problematic development within the social and theoretical practice of social work, and make some suggestions regarding how to start discussing, analysing and dealing with this changing social landscape. We will identify some critical points and issues and present models of how to think about and develop a critical social work practice. KEYWORDS: Evidence, psychologization, social work practice, meta-theory, discursive-narrative