Neoliberal Policies and Critical Social Work Approach: A Case Study

This case study examines the impact of neoliberal policies on individuals and social work practices, focusing on a specific case involving financial hardship and social challenges. It discusses how neoliberalism, characterized by privatization, reduced government spending, and free trade, can lead to social inequality, decreased social security, and adverse effects on mental health. The study analyzes the theoretical perspectives of neoliberalism and its effects on the family, highlighting the importance of understanding these concepts to address economic and social issues. Furthermore, it explores the application of critical social work approaches, emphasizing the need to address injustice, challenge oppression, and understand the social consequences of market systems and neoliberal governance, particularly in relation to issues like addiction and economic instability. The analysis concludes by evaluating the effectiveness of critical social work elements such as understanding the market system, addressing neoliberal influences, and promoting economic awareness in mitigating the negative impacts observed in the case study.

WRITTEN ASSESMENT
CASE STUDY

Table of Contents
ESSAY.............................................................................................................................................3
Effectiveness of critical social work approach for Joy................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

ESSAY
The present essay is associated with the case study that is related to the various social
issues in the context of the Neoliberal policies and by using the theoretical perspective analysis
has to be mentioned that impact the Joy's experience as per the case study. The essay further
highlights the various elements of the critical social work approach and also evaluation of the
critical social approach for working with joy as per the case study.
Neoliberalism is defined as the policy that encompasses with both the politics and
economics and seeks to transfer the control of various economic factors form the public to
private sector. The policies related to it is connected and supports the fiscal austerity , free
trade , privatisation and also reduction in the government spending. It is basically associated
with the economic policies of the Margaret Thatcher in UK . It is observed that many theorist
criticize this policy which included the tendency to endanger the democracy, workers rights and
various sovereign nations. Neoliberalism is a difficult economic system that needs to be changed.
Neoliberalism is kind of losing its analytical edge which has made it more famous in academia,
media and popular discussions. According to Thorsen and Lie (2006) state that neoliberalism and
liberalism are rivals. Neo liberalism on the other hand has also become a dominant ideology in
many parts of the world and also it has been found on the assertions that well-being of the people
can be achieved by increasing the freedom, individual responsibility and free trade. It is
observed that neoliberal; policies can have immense impact which includes decline in the social
security and increased social inequality. Furthermore, with the development of the neo liberal
policies it has resulted into affecting the society which includes the decline on the employment
opportunities, misuse of the natural environment and increase in the rate of poverty in the nation
.In the present case study , Robert invested in one of their property but due to various changes in
the market situation led the party to face various financial crisis which led the family in the bad
situation which alos affected their relationship and family. On the other hand Robert was also
involved in the gambling but alos knew the limit of such act but due to the present situation in
the family led the party into negative situation. It can be said that if there are any changes in the
situation and policies of the economy can result into affecting the individual and the services. It
is very important to understand various concepts and theories which helps in analysing about the
various changes that have taken place which has negatively affected the society and people.

Liberalism as a political ideology has been distinct from political talks as well as policy
making for a long time and has gone through a process of initial growth, intermediary decline,
and finally a recent rejuvenation (Ferragina, E., & Arrigoni, A. 2021).Moreover, neoliberalism is
now commonly discussed all around the globe and is manly used to refer to an economic system
which involves free market (which is expanded to each and every part of public as well as
personal worlds). However, this paper does not go in depth to understand neoliberalism instead,
it is based on a case study and sheds light on the broader social issues that are impacting the
characters in the case study. Neoliberalism has also affected the social work from many years
and the policies related to the neo-liberal also resulted into decline ion the public expenditure
budget and also privatisation of the public resources which resulted into many people lost their
job and also increased the unemployment rate in the economy. Furthermore, it not affects the
social life but also results into affecting the mental health of a person which have negative
impact on their personal and social life(Dukelow, & Kennett, 2018). It can be said that
neoliberalism is the difficult situation for the economy and is required to be changes as it has
affected the life of the person which has resulted into increase in the social inequality which
develops the stress in individual . It is necessary to understand these concepts in order to have a
good understanding of the recent political and economic mess. The present case study reflects on
the various theories related to the social work(Venugopal, 2015).As explained in the case study,
Robert and Joy were financially sound, their children were well settled and Joy never hard to
work as she was happy to stay home and take care of the family. The family had cleared their
dues and tried investing in the property development scheme for up market apartments in Silver
Coast in order to boost their retirement funds and create a better future for themselves. They took
a loan from the bank by keeping the family home as equity but unfortunately the Silver Coast
property prices dropped and the couple lost their money(Springer, Birch, & MacLeavy, 2016).
There is a growing concerns that conditions as well as effects of neoliberalism and privatisation,
lack of basic state support, unnecessary work demands, fake news, unemployment etc are to be
criticize.
The theoretical perspective of the neoliberalism lays focus on the economic condition of
the market and also social life of the people. As per the case study its is observed the market
price fall down Robert and Joy led a happy life with their family on the other hand Robert was
involved in the gambling which pushed hum away from his family and also worsen the situation

of the family which led to the crisis. neoliberalism is now commonly discussed all around the
globe and is manly used to refer to an economic system which involves free market The family
faced a lot of financial stress and Robert for the concerned to create money put all the fund into
the gambling without knowing the consequences of the same. After some time Robert and Joy
lost their home and banks sealed their home due to non payment of he loan. There has been
benefits as well as negative consequences of the neo liberal policy which can also result in less
social security (Marthinsen, and et.al., 2019). As per the case study , various changes took place
in the life of Joy and Robert as the impact ion the market affected their life. It can be said that
changes in the market can also impact the social life of the people and can result in negative
impact on their life. On the other hand it is necessary to observed the market situation and take
the decisions as it can have long term impact on the society.
Critical social work approaches is mainly defined as about the work which mainly helps
in addressing the injustice and opposing the individual issues. This is also considered to be the
theory that is able to develop various forms of oppressions and injustice that is globalized
capitalist societies and forms of the neo-liberal governance (Xiong and Peng, 2021). There are
different elements that are linked to the critical social work approach, The main element of the
critical social approach is to help the people to be able to understand the social consequences of
the market system, neo-liberalism and the economization of the life. In this given case study this
is about how greed can result in addiction for some individuals. This is also the study which is
able help in dealing with the collective and social issues that are rather helpful for the individuals
to understand them. As per case study it was also observed that the impact of the neo liberal
policy can result into the various changes in the society and results into social inequality and
decline in the social security. According to the case study it was observed that the situation of the
Robert and Joy has resulting into having negative impact on their relationship(Fagan, & Rubery,
2018). They were living separately as Robert moved to his friends house and after this Joy
became homeless. Due to theis situation Joy has to live in the Women Shelter but for the limited
time period . It can be said that with the various changes in the market situation it can affect the
social life and ind' who are involved in the service. It is also considered to be the factor that is
helpful for the dealing with the collectivity of the society that is able to face the issues that are
rather effective in the terms of the individualistic factors. This approach also explains how the
important is the alliance of the people in order to influence the critical social work. Critical social

work is also considered to be the approach that helps the individuals in planning the ways in
which they are going to help in making decisions that are right or wring depending on the certain
circumstances of the scenario. The use of this approach has been identified as the factor that is
able to bring the key towards the ways in which it helps in the development of the key practices
that help in generation of the social well-being in the individual practices.
Effectiveness of critical social work approach for Joy
Following are the element of the critical social approach which can be related to the
scenario of Joy are,
Market system :
In this case study Joy has been facing the of greed which he has developed from the
market system that has influenced him to be the kind of individual that he actually was not.
Hence, it can be said that the social has the power of influencing a person to move towards right
or wrong.
Neo-liberalism :
As per this critical social approach it is also considered that the through the help of
implementing certain rules in the areas of the gabbling there are ways in which the society can
mitigate such scenarios to occur in the future (Nagle, 2018).
Economization of life :
For the individuals that are involved in their society it is very important to them for
understanding that the importance of economization. This true because if Joy understood the
importance of saving he would have never been in this scenario where he would lose every thing
in the gambling process. Hence, social is responsible for not being able to teach people such as
joy the importance of Economization of life.
It can be concluded from the above case study that neoliberalisem plays very important
role in which can have negative impact on the society and social life of the people. IN the present
case study. It has been observed that changes in the market conditions have impacted the life of
the people. The essay also summarize the various critical social approach which can be classified
into market system , neoliberlaim and economization of life .

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Ferragina, E., & Arrigoni, A. (2021). Selective neoliberalism: How Italy went from dualization
to liberalisation in labour market and pension reforms. New Political Economy, 26(6),
964-984.
Marthinsen, and et.al., (2019). Social work and neoliberalism: The Trondheim papers. European
Journal of Social Work, 22(2), 183-187.
Nagle, J., (2018). Twitter, cyber-violence, and the need for a critical social media literacy in
teacher education: A review of the literature. Teaching and Teacher Education. 76.
pp.86-94.
Springer, S., Birch, K., & MacLeavy, J. (2016). An introduction to neoliberalism. The handbook
of neoliberalism, 1-14.
Thorsen, D. E., & Lie, A. (2006). What is neoliberalism. Oslo, University of Oslo, Department of
Political Science, Manuscript, 1-21.
Venugopal, R. (2015). Neoliberalism as concept. Economy and Society.44(2). 165-187.
Xiong, T. and Peng, Y., (2021). Representing culture in Chinese as a second language textbooks:
A critical social semiotic approach. Language, Culture and Curriculum. 34(2). pp.163-
182.
Dukelow, F., & Kennett, P. (2018). Discipline, debt and coercive commodification: Post-crisis
neoliberalism and the welfare state in Ireland, the UK and the USA. Critical Social
Policy, 38(3), 482-504.
Fagan, C., & Rubery, J. (2018). Advancing gender equality through European employment
policy: the impact of the UK's EU membership and the risks of Brexit. Social Policy and
Society, 17(2), 297-317.
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