What Makes Critical Social Work - 817 Words

â€Å"What Makes Critical Social Work Critical?† Sara A. Lee #214483622 York University Dr. Chris Chapman SOWK 1011: Section A Tutorial 6: Sasan Issari November 9th, 2015 â€Å"What makes critical social work, critical?† In order to define critical social work, one must define the concept of social work - and in defining social work, one must also define critical thinking, and critical consciousness. This paper will attempt to define such concepts and ideologies and it will address and include themes of the intersectionality of social work and the Sociological Imagination, social structure and institutions. So what is social work? The York University - School of Social Work (2015), mission statement suggests that social work practice affirms personal experiences influenced by social structure and addresses social injustices, oppression and other problems current to our society and that critical social work practitioners are the agents of change. Socially working can be broken down into the elements of social structure, the five main social institutions and the newer sub-institutions. According to Mooney, Holmes, Knox, and Schacht (2013, p. 5), the elements of social structure include: roles, statuses, social groups and institutions. These institutions include: family, politics/government, education, and economy. The five sub-institutions include: science and technology, media, sports, military and medicine. Social structure is continually changing as societyShow MoreRelatedProject Is Focussed On The Exploitation Of Alm1651 Words   |  7 Pagesthese research questions. It is for these reasons that critical realism has been identified as an appropriate philosophical approach for this research, but what is critical realism? Critical realism has been formed out of frustration with positivism and constructivism and the associated limitations of the two concepts. Founded by Bhaskar through a combination of transcendental realism (Bhaskar, 1975) and critical naturalism (Bhaskar, 1998), critical realism provides an interface between the two predominantRead MoreCritical Aspects Of Social Work Essay1496 Words   |  6 Pagesof the key things that stood out for me while doing this course and before has made me realize that social work is harder than I thought it would be. There are many critical aspects of social work that help us work with clients. One of the biggest things that have stood out for me was that helping people is more complicated than I thought there are so many critical things in the process that work to help others. Therefore it is not as easy as I expected it would be. The main reasons that I wantedRead MoreThe Importance of Critical Thinking in Science977 Words   |  4 PagesCritical think ing is a very important concept in regards to science, especially since science and the concepts therein have been fluctuating from the time of their origins. As stated in Kirst-Ashman’s book; Critical thinking is the careful scrutiny of what is stated as true or what appears to be true and the resulting expression of an opinion or conclusion based on that scrutiny, and (2) the creative formulation of an opinion or conclusion when presented with a question, problem or issue, (Kist-AshmanRead MoreExperiencing Grief Essay1499 Words   |  6 Pagesthat social workers are aware of the multitude of loss that immigrants experience and how this impacts on their life and the lives of others. Grief is a complex emotional response that arises from experiences of loss (Kanel 2003). Loss can be multidimensional and accompanies most big changes in our lives (Goldsworthy 2005, p. 176). Moving to another country involves multiple diverse changes, in which people experience a variety of loss (Lee 2010). This essay will demonstrate how critical and ecologicalRead MoreThe Importance of Critical Thinking and Ethical Decision Making on Social Work1149 Words   |  5 Pagesfor someone in t he social work profession to serve vulnerable populations it was intended to serve, it is imperative to use critical thinking and ethical decision making in tandem to achieve the optimal result. The balance is a delicate and often complex. It requires a close examination or critically thinking, of all the issues not just within yourself, but the community as a whole, the individuals within it, and the client population that the social work serves. The social work profession is builtRead MoreA Brief Look at Critical Theory1200 Words   |  5 PagesCritical Theory #1 The critical theory arose from the Frankfurt School, the collective works of German theorists. Critical theory’s roots are centered on the works of The Institute for Social Research and those researchers who promoted Karl Marx theory of idealism. Intellectuals at the school developed kritisch Therorie, the critical theory of society, which was created to directly interpret Marxism. These theorists wanted to revise Marx’s theory that capitalism and the concept that the best wayRead MoreCritical Theory, Functionalism And Symbolic Interactionism Essay1351 Words   |  6 Pagesthree major theories; critical theory, functionalism and symbolic interactionism. These theories express the structure of society in which each theory looks at a different aspects of sociology. Sociologists apply these theories in the study of society, but it becomes difficult if only one theory is applied. For that one applied theory, would only look at the aspect to which it is confined to. To succ essfully study sociology all three theories must be applied together. Critical theory was founded byRead MoreMargaret Ledwith s Community Development : A Critical Approach1506 Words   |  7 PagesBook review Ledwith, Margaret, Community Development: A Critical Approach, Bristol: The Policy Press. 2011, 226 p. The second edition of Margaret Ledwith’s Community Development: A Critical Approach offers a precarious and searching review of community activism and theory. It is positioned in the contemporary era of global, economic, social, and environmental crisis. Ledwith’s study is relevant in the time of accelerated world crises of social justice and environmental sustainability, and her intentRead MoreCritical Reflection On Self And, And Challenging External Power Structures804 Words   |  4 Pagesusers (Bloom, 2006). Through critical reflection we have a better understanding of power relationships, which makes us mindful of not perpetuating people’s experiences of oppression in our working relationships with them. Deconstruction highlighted how implicit construction of power is disenabling and easily subscribed to as the dominant discourse. Critical reflection allows social workers to silently asking oneself as observing oneself in practice questions such as: What is my part of this feelingRead MoreCapturing Students Attention with Artisitc Depiction of Historical Events655 Words   |  3 Pagesstates that using art in social studies requires moving beyond art appreciation toward nurturing a higher awareness level of inference and critical interpretation. In order to assist students in this process, the authors for this article have developed a scaffolding method (REED-LO) that supports the interpretation of a work of art and a Web 2.0 tool that is a freely-available Web-based Art Interac tive Tool (WAIT) that enables students to virtually visit the selected works of art from a museum. Although