Our current historical moment of Neo-liberalism, in theory and practice, is fundamentally antithetical to social work’s ethical foundations. Its ideological assumptions run counter to what the best of traditional social work taught. It promotes individualism – the belief that individuals are fundamentally on their own. It argues that whether an individual sinks or swims is up to that individual; and society, much less the government, has no obligation to lend a helping hand. It insists that the “invisible hand” of the market, if left alone to do its work, will provide benefits for all who conform to its norms.This ideology has had a corrosive impact on social work theory, influencing practitioners’ values, beliefs, assumptions and attitudes. And it has had an equally harmful impact on the profession’s practice, compelling clinical social workers to increasingly devote their attention to assisting clients to adapt their thinking and behavior to the “new normal” of the neo-liberal social order rather than working with them to challenge it. —Dawn Belkin-Martinez, in the introduction to Social Justice in Clinical Practice: A Liberation Health Framework for Social Work.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 15:10:09 +0000
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