Critical Social Work

Running head: CRITICAL SOCIAL WORK
CRITICAL SOCIAL WORK
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CRITICAL SOCIAL WORK
The study is in regard to the examination of the various theories related to social work
and putting them into practice. In the study my focus is towards understanding how social work
can be guided by the various theories and can thus be effective practice for the social worker.
Some of the main theories that have been analyzed through the work are including the anti-
oppressive theory and the various perspectives that are present considering the same. I want to
take a progressive anti-oppression based approach towards social work. This approach has been
chosen by me in order to address the root cause for the social inequities that are prevalent in
society. This is my preferred way of practicing critical social work. Social, economic, cultural,
environmental and political inequities have given rise to a range of issues that are at times greatly
interdependent. Theories such as the anti-oppressive theory of social work will be used by me as
a guiding framework for my social work. The theory is focused towards ending all forms of
oppressions that are socio-economic in nature.
I believe a progressive approach based on anti-oppression theory is needed to address the
key issues that tend to affect the contemporary society range from political to economic to social
issues. Anti-oppression theory is important towards determining the effectiveness of the social
work that can take place against the identified prevalent social issues. The current situation in
social work is dominated by the existing systems that are in place for the grievance redressing of
the affected publics. In the current environment of welfare oriented outlooks of the government
of especially the western society the focus is more on social workers working in cooperation
with the government (Baldwin, 2016). However, the major issues that arise are in regards to a
vast number of communities in need for social development are due to them being unaware of
the government mechanisms.

2CRITICAL SOCIAL WORK
As of now social work is an academic discipline. This implies that students need to study
social work and get a degree from a recognized academic institution to participate effectively in
the practice of the same. Currently social work is to some extent affected by political decision
making. It is important to consider that social workers cannot be completely apolitical all the
times. However, the political influence of social works have been known to be more limited
considering the other groups. Mendes (2017) opines that in Australia government policies such
as the free market economy and limited amount of social expenditure have contributed towards
lesser spend on welfare schemes. Hence, social work is affected by the government policies and
in the present situations social workers have to work against the government policies many times
if they are focused towards helping the social causes. The economic factors that tend to affect
social work are the income disparities, low GDP growth, decrease in per capita income and low
per capita GDP. The economic factors mentioned greatly lead to the increased requirement of
social work. The consequences of the same sometimes forces the social work groups to increase
the scope of their work. Greater economic problems necessitates the greater need for social work
among the economically backward and affected communities (Sociology: Contemporary Social
Problems, 2019). The lack of people engaged in social work means that not many people can
actively engage in such work and the prospects of social change are hampered. Economic issues
can increase the duration of social work. Social issues are always prevalent in any given setting.
In the modern world the burning social issues are in regards to rehabilitation of refugees, the
world refugee crisis, growth of racism and sectarian tendencies across the world, socio-economic
inequities arising for income disparities and segregation of people based on ethnic, economic,
racial or cultural backgrounds (Engstrom, 2016). Social workers working for refugees and