‘A World to Win’: In Defence of (Dissenting) Social Work—A Response to Chris Maylea

This article is a response to Chris Maylea’s lively call to ‘end of social work’. Whilst welcoming the publication of his polemic, I maintain that there are substantial problems with his lines of analysis. Problematic facets of his article are enmeshed with questions of timing, tonality and position...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe British journal of social work Vol. 51; no. 4; pp. 1131 - 1149
Main Author Michael Garrett, Paul
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford University Press 01.06.2021
Subjects
professionalism
neoliberalism
dissenting social work
history
theory
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Summary:This article is a response to Chris Maylea’s lively call to ‘end of social work’. Whilst welcoming the publication of his polemic, I maintain that there are substantial problems with his lines of analysis. Problematic facets of his article are enmeshed with questions of timing, tonality and positionality. It is also possible to identify significant evidential flaws in the bald assertion that social workers present a ‘real threat to people’. What is more, Maylea’s inadvertently risks aiding the project of the neoliberal Right. Critically engaging with the notion that there are ‘four key reasons’ necessitating the abolition of profession, I make an alternative case for reanimated and re-energised forms of ‘dissenting social work’.
ISSN:0045-3102
1468-263X
DOI:10.1093/bjsw/bcab009