Books by Christine Morley
The Routledge Handbook of Critical Pedagogies for Social Work, 2020
The Routledge Handbook of Critical Pedagogies for Social Work traverses new territory by providin... more The Routledge Handbook of Critical Pedagogies for Social Work traverses new territory by providing a cutting-edge overview of the work of classic and contemporary theorists, in a way that expands their application and utility in social work education and practice; thus, providing a bridge between critical theory, philosophy, and social work.
Each chapter showcases the work of a specific critical educational, philosophical and/or social theorist including: Henry Giroux, Michel Foucault, Cornelius Castoriadis, Herbert Marcuse, Paulo Freire, bell hooks, Joan Tronto, Iris Marion Young, Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci and many others to elucidate the ways in which their key pedagogic concepts can be applied to specific aspects of social work education and practice. The text exhibits a range of research-based approaches to educating social work practitioners as agents of social change. It provides a robust and much needed, alternative paradigm to the technique-driven ‘conservative revolution’ currently being fostered by neoliberalism in both social work education and practice.
The volume will be instructive for social work educators who aim to teach for social change, by assisting students to develop counter-hegemonic practices of resistance and agency, and reflecting on the pedagogic role of social work practice more widely. The volume holds relevance for both postgraduate and undergraduate/qualifying social work and human services courses around the world.
This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the diverse and contested world of social work... more This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the diverse and contested world of social work. It explores the key concepts and theoretical frameworks underpinning contemporary social work practice, as well as relevant professional skills and strategies from a critical perspective. In a rapidly changing world, it locates critical social work as a part of broader and ongoing struggles for social justice and human rights. Readers are encouraged to think about what social work is or should be, and what sort of social worker they would like to become. The book covers a broad range of topics, including the history and development of social work as a profession, values and ethics, theories for practice, and the fields and context of practice. Definitions of key terms, reflective exercises and case studies are integrated throughout the text. Written by a diverse team of experienced educators, this is a stimulating, rigorous and student-friendly resource.
This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the diverse and contested world of social work... more This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the diverse and contested world of social work. It explores the key concepts and theoretical frameworks underpinning contemporary social work practice, as well as relevant professional skills and strategies from a critical perspective. In a rapidly changing world, it locates critical social work as a part of broader and ongoing struggles for social justice and human rights. Readers are encouraged to think about what social work is or should be, and what sort of social worker they would like to become. The book covers a broad range of topics, including the history and development of social work as a profession, values and ethics, theories for practice, and the fields and context of practice. Definitions of key terms, reflective exercises and case studies are integrated throughout the text. Written by a diverse team of experienced educators, this is a stimulating, rigorous and student-friendly resource.
Overwhelmingly, critical practitioners working across a range of human service fields, who are co... more Overwhelmingly, critical practitioners working across a range of human service fields, who are committed to emancipatory and progressive social change ideals, report feeling powerless, alienated from the means of change, and hopeless about their capacities to make a difference in the lives of the individuals, groups or communities with whom they work because of restrictive contexts that ultimately determine the nature and parameters of their work. This ground-breaking book addresses this dilemma by demonstrating how critical reflection as an educational tool enables practitioners to envision possibilities for change. The legal system, particularly in its response to sexual assault provides a perfect example of this type of context and this volume explores the work of sexual assault practitioners that are engaged in supporting victims/survivors of sexual assault through the legal process. By reshaping ideas that have previously been considered as predominantly theoretical and abstract, Morley’s work provides an innovative framework that enables social work and human services practitioners to find hope, agency and practical strategies to work towards change, despite operating in contexts that appear immutably oppressive. © Christine Morley 2014. All rights reserved.
Papers by Christine Morley
Critical and Radical Social Work: An international journal. , 2019
Social work is a contested tradition, torn between the demands of social governance and autonomy.... more Social work is a contested tradition, torn between the demands of social governance and autonomy. Today, this struggle is reflected in the division between the dominant, neoliberal agenda of service provision and the resistance offered by various critical perspectives employed by disparate groups of practitioners serving diverse communities. Critical social work challenges oppressive conditions and discourses, in addition to addressing their consequences in individuals' lives. However, very few recent critical theorists informing critical social work have advocated revolution. A challenging exception may be found in the work of Cornelius Castoriadis (1922-97), whose explication of ontological underdetermination and creation evades the pitfalls of both structural determinism and post-structural relativism, enabling an understanding of society as the contested creation of collective imaginaries in action and a politics of radical transformation. On this basis, we argue that Castoriadis's radical-democratic revisioning of revolutionary praxis can help in reimagining critical social work's emancipatory potential.
Critical and Radical Social Work: An international journal. Vol. 7, (2), 2019
This article seeks to explicate one form of technical rationality (ie the technological developme... more This article seeks to explicate one form of technical rationality (ie the technological development of robotics) in social work education and practice. As advances in robotics evolve, questions are raised about the role of technicist education in reducing social work practice to a set of tasks that are repeatable, formulaic and linear (ie tasks that robots are capable of performing). We conduct a critical synthesis of the literature to explore how these parallel processes potentially create a seamless transition for social robots to replace the human social work workforce. Our analysis suggests that social workers need to reclaim a broader understanding of social work education and practice if we intend to retain human social work practitioners into the future. We argue that this is vital because critical social work practitioners are more capable than robots of meeting the espoused social justice values of social work.
Implementing a Basic Income in Australia: Pathways Forward, 2019
Economic inequality is increasing globally and in Australia. Social work and human services (SWHS... more Economic inequality is increasing globally and in Australia. Social work and human services (SWHS) professions will be part of the response to the social consequences of this division. However, SWHS have always been contested professions, split between individualist and structural approaches to combatting the social harms of economic inequality. The recent renewal of “critical social work” raises the prospects for a more structural, reform-oriented response from SWHS practitioners to rising inequality. From a critical SWHS perspective, a basic income (BI) could provide a useful response to structural inequality, provided it is part of a redistributive policy suite and not simply a cost-saving replacement for other welfare measures. We argue, based on past and current examples, that critical SWHS could be supportive allies in campaigning for an equitable and adequate BI. This chapter highlights the potential contribution that critical SWHS workers could make in promoting the BI campaign through practitioner activism, professional advocacy and critical pedagogy.
Critical and Radical Social Work, 2016
Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work, 2017
Introduction:
Wealth and income inequality is increasing in most societies, including Australia a... more Introduction:
Wealth and income inequality is increasing in most societies, including Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, with detrimental social impacts. However, despite professional marginality, the renewal of radical social work critiques with their emphasis on structural issues highlight, the need for alternative practice responses.
Method:
We employed a critical and synthetic review of the literature to examine major trends in wealth and income inequality (both globally, and in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand) and the social work responses to increasing economic inequality.
Conclusions:
Resurgent wealth and income inequality has reached new crisis points in both countries but individualising analyses and programmes render most social work responses complicit with neoliberal governance. These responses do little to reduce inequality. Alternatives promoting economic equality can be found in radical social work approaches.
Implications:
At a minimum, effective radical responses to economic inequality must advocate critical social analyses in social work education and practice, including fostering practitioners' capacity for critical reflection, policy practice and political activism.
Social Alternatives, 2016
This paper will argue that wealth and income inequality are among the most pressing issues for co... more This paper will argue that wealth and income inequality are among the most pressing issues for contemporary social work. Despite this, social work as a discipline and profession has, in the main, been slow to respond to this growing problem. Critical approaches to social work, however, have always included a commitment to eliminating poverty, promoting equity and addressing both the causes and consequences of socio-economic disadvantage as a core priority. This paper will discuss that contributions critical social work can make to socially informed and ethical responses, particularly through its critical pedagogic, reflective and activist practices in contesting wealth and income inequality.
This article traces the emergence of a student activist group called the Social Work Action and A... more This article traces the emergence of a student activist group called the Social Work Action and Advocacy Network for Students at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia. The article exhibits three founding members' experiences of working collectively to achieve emancipatory goals: showcasing achievements; grappling with ethical tensions of working within a group; and demonstrating students' capacity to re-author the identity of social work in a way that positions activism as central.
Just Policy: A Journal of …, 2008
Abstract: This paper argues that feminist analyses are crucial in any critical analysis of social... more Abstract: This paper argues that feminist analyses are crucial in any critical analysis of social policy. Specifically, this paper argues that the Howard government's policy responses to the issue of family violence have reflected a renewed attack on previous gains made by women, ...
British Journal of Social Work, 2012
Abstract In this paper, we provide a critical review of the literature that discusses the nexus b... more Abstract In this paper, we provide a critical review of the literature that discusses the nexus between feminism and postmodernism. Further, we argue that the current debates about using postmodernism to enhance structural theories such as feminism are often polarised, ...
Critical Social Work, 2010
This paper emerges in response to the recent initiative by the Australian Association of Social W... more This paper emerges in response to the recent initiative by the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) to mandate the inclusion of specific, clinically based mental health curriculum into qualifying social work programs across Australia. Whilst the authors affirm the importance of an emphasis of mental health in social work education, we further suggest that the professional repositioning of social work in mental health must be informed by critical/postmodern theoretical approaches. If social work is to engender and maintain its unique and vital role in problematising simplistic, depoliticised and individualising constructions of mental health and illness, we need to promote more contextualised and holistic understandings of people's experiences. The paper concludes by offering an example of critical mental health curriculum.
British Journal of Social Work, 2012
Abstract In this paper, we provide a critical review of the literature that discusses the nexus b... more Abstract In this paper, we provide a critical review of the literature that discusses the nexus between feminism and postmodernism. Further, we argue that the current debates about using postmodernism to enhance structural theories such as feminism are often polarised, ...
Just Policy a Journal of Australian Social Policy, Mar 1, 2008
Abstract: This paper argues that feminist analyses are crucial in any critical analysis of social... more Abstract: This paper argues that feminist analyses are crucial in any critical analysis of social policy. Specifically, this paper argues that the Howard government's policy responses to the issue of family violence have reflected a renewed attack on previous gains made by women, ...
Critical and Radical Social Work, 2014
This article explores possibilities and responsibilities for social work to further a social just... more This article explores possibilities and responsibilities for social work to further a social justice and human rights agenda in a neoliberal context through the prism of ethical practice. We draw on examples from a progressive social work programme that places critical theories at the centre of curricula and links them explicitly with the distinct value and ethical base of the social work profession. We demonstrate how critical reflection facilitates students’ commitment to the values and principles of critical social work, and the ways in which this fosters resistance to the colonisation of social work by neoliberalism. We conclude with some examples taken from our research that illustrate the emancipatory possibilities of critical reflection to enhance ethical practice in critical social work.
This report evaluates a community development program undertaken by Family Planning Queensland in... more This report evaluates a community development program undertaken by Family Planning Queensland in Gympie Queensland. The program aimed to improve young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's sexual health in the area. The evaluation finds that the project was generally successful in that it effectively educated local social and health workers on the unique barriers faced by young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the area. However, it was found that more consultation with local and young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was needed before the project began in order to achieve optimum outcomes and fulfill the potential of the program.
Critical reflexivity is an epistemological position that brings together the social constructioni... more Critical reflexivity is an epistemological position that brings together the social constructionist stance of reflexivity with the
emancipatory goals of critical social science. Critical reflexivity is a vial precondition for critical reflection, yet not sufficient in
its own right to activate the transformative deconstruction and reconstruction processes that critical reflection enables. The
related concepts of reflection, reflexivity, and critical reflection will also be discussed. A critically reflexive stance is essential to
further a critical social work agenda that is committed to social justice and human rights, despite the challenges presented by
the contemporary, neoliberal context.
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Books by Christine Morley
Each chapter showcases the work of a specific critical educational, philosophical and/or social theorist including: Henry Giroux, Michel Foucault, Cornelius Castoriadis, Herbert Marcuse, Paulo Freire, bell hooks, Joan Tronto, Iris Marion Young, Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci and many others to elucidate the ways in which their key pedagogic concepts can be applied to specific aspects of social work education and practice. The text exhibits a range of research-based approaches to educating social work practitioners as agents of social change. It provides a robust and much needed, alternative paradigm to the technique-driven ‘conservative revolution’ currently being fostered by neoliberalism in both social work education and practice.
The volume will be instructive for social work educators who aim to teach for social change, by assisting students to develop counter-hegemonic practices of resistance and agency, and reflecting on the pedagogic role of social work practice more widely. The volume holds relevance for both postgraduate and undergraduate/qualifying social work and human services courses around the world.
Papers by Christine Morley
Wealth and income inequality is increasing in most societies, including Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, with detrimental social impacts. However, despite professional marginality, the renewal of radical social work critiques with their emphasis on structural issues highlight, the need for alternative practice responses.
Method:
We employed a critical and synthetic review of the literature to examine major trends in wealth and income inequality (both globally, and in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand) and the social work responses to increasing economic inequality.
Conclusions:
Resurgent wealth and income inequality has reached new crisis points in both countries but individualising analyses and programmes render most social work responses complicit with neoliberal governance. These responses do little to reduce inequality. Alternatives promoting economic equality can be found in radical social work approaches.
Implications:
At a minimum, effective radical responses to economic inequality must advocate critical social analyses in social work education and practice, including fostering practitioners' capacity for critical reflection, policy practice and political activism.
emancipatory goals of critical social science. Critical reflexivity is a vial precondition for critical reflection, yet not sufficient in
its own right to activate the transformative deconstruction and reconstruction processes that critical reflection enables. The
related concepts of reflection, reflexivity, and critical reflection will also be discussed. A critically reflexive stance is essential to
further a critical social work agenda that is committed to social justice and human rights, despite the challenges presented by
the contemporary, neoliberal context.
Each chapter showcases the work of a specific critical educational, philosophical and/or social theorist including: Henry Giroux, Michel Foucault, Cornelius Castoriadis, Herbert Marcuse, Paulo Freire, bell hooks, Joan Tronto, Iris Marion Young, Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci and many others to elucidate the ways in which their key pedagogic concepts can be applied to specific aspects of social work education and practice. The text exhibits a range of research-based approaches to educating social work practitioners as agents of social change. It provides a robust and much needed, alternative paradigm to the technique-driven ‘conservative revolution’ currently being fostered by neoliberalism in both social work education and practice.
The volume will be instructive for social work educators who aim to teach for social change, by assisting students to develop counter-hegemonic practices of resistance and agency, and reflecting on the pedagogic role of social work practice more widely. The volume holds relevance for both postgraduate and undergraduate/qualifying social work and human services courses around the world.
Wealth and income inequality is increasing in most societies, including Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, with detrimental social impacts. However, despite professional marginality, the renewal of radical social work critiques with their emphasis on structural issues highlight, the need for alternative practice responses.
Method:
We employed a critical and synthetic review of the literature to examine major trends in wealth and income inequality (both globally, and in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand) and the social work responses to increasing economic inequality.
Conclusions:
Resurgent wealth and income inequality has reached new crisis points in both countries but individualising analyses and programmes render most social work responses complicit with neoliberal governance. These responses do little to reduce inequality. Alternatives promoting economic equality can be found in radical social work approaches.
Implications:
At a minimum, effective radical responses to economic inequality must advocate critical social analyses in social work education and practice, including fostering practitioners' capacity for critical reflection, policy practice and political activism.
emancipatory goals of critical social science. Critical reflexivity is a vial precondition for critical reflection, yet not sufficient in
its own right to activate the transformative deconstruction and reconstruction processes that critical reflection enables. The
related concepts of reflection, reflexivity, and critical reflection will also be discussed. A critically reflexive stance is essential to
further a critical social work agenda that is committed to social justice and human rights, despite the challenges presented by
the contemporary, neoliberal context.