A Conceptual Framework for Taking Subversive Social Work into the Classroom
Keywords:
Subversion, Subversive Social Work, Deviant Social Work, Subversive Practice, Covert Practices, Social Work EducationAbstract
Social work educators commonly describe aspects of subversive social work, or intentionally small-scale practice behaviours of caring resistance which fall outside the professional, procedural, or even legal boundaries of their roles. In contemporary neoliberal practice environments, subversion offers one way in which social workers can practise ethically and in line with their values. Despite this, subversive social work is not commonly or consistently theorised in social work literature or curricula. In this article we present a conceptual framework of subversive social work comprising three elements: caring resistance, ethical alignment and small-scale practices. We then explore implications of teaching subversive social work in a contemporary social work tertiary educational context.
We use this paper to argue that small-scale subversive actions may be the way that social workers can remain aligned with their critical approach and practise in a caring, ethically sound manner. To prepare social work students to practice in this way, we suggest that subversion should be explicitly theorised and taught, with a focus on framing subversive practice within social work ethics and values.
References
Australian Association of Social Workers. (2010). Code of ethics. Retrieved from https://www.aasw.asn.au/document/item/1201
Baines, D. (2018). Social ethics of care and social neglect. In B. Pease, A. Vreugdenhil, & S. Stanford (Eds.), Critical ethics of care in social work (pp. 16–26). Milton Park, United Kingdom: Routledge.
Briskman, L., Pease, B., & Allan, J. (2009). Introducing critical theories for social work in a neo-liberal context. In J. Allan, L. Briskman, & B. Pease (Eds.), Critical social work: Theories and practices for a socially just world (2nd ed., pp. 3–14). Crow’s Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin.
Briskman, L., & Zion, D. (2014). Dual loyalties and impossible dilemmas: Health care in immigration detention. Public Health Ethics, 7(3), 277–286.
Carey, M., & Foster, V. (2011). Introducing ‘Deviant’ Social Work: Contextualising the limits of radical social work whilst understanding (fragmented) resistance within the social work labour process. British Journal of Social Work, 41(3), 576–593.
Carrington, A. (2016). Feminism under siege: Critical reflections on the impact of neoliberalism and managerialism on feminist practice. In B. Pease, S. Goldingay, N.
Hosken, & S. Nipperess (Eds.), Doing critical social work: Transformative practices for social justice (pp. 226–240), Crow’s Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin.
Fine, M., & Teram, E. (2013). Overt and covert ways of responding to moral injustices in social work practice: Heroes and mildmannered social work bipeds. The British Journal of Social Work, 43(7), 1312–1329.
Giroux, H. (2004). When hope is subversive. Tikkun, 19(6), 62–64.
Greenslade, L., McAuliffe, D., & Chenoweth, L. (2015). Social workers’ experiences of covert workplace activism. Australian Social Work, 68(4), 422–437.
Macfarlane, S. (2016). Education for critical social work. In B. Pease, S. Goldingay, N. Hosken, & S. Nipperess (Eds.), Doing critical social work: Transformative practices for social justice (pp. 326–338). Crow’s Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin.
Jordan, B. (1990). Social work in an unjust society. Hemel Hempstead, United Kingdom: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Maylea, C. (2017). A rejection of involuntary treatment in mental health social work. Ethics and Social Welfare, 11(4), 336–352.
Maylea, C., & Hirsch, A. (2017). Social Workers as Collaborators? The ethics of working within Australia’s asylum system. Ethics and Social Welfare, 12(2), 160–178.
Macfarlane, S. (2016). Education for critical social work. In B. Pease, S. Goldingay, N. Hosken, & S. Nipperess (Eds.), Doing critical social work: Transformative practices for social justice (pp. 326–338). Crow’s Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin.
Morley, C., MacFarlane, S., & Ablett, P. (2017). The neoliberal colonisation of social work education: A critical analysis and practices for resistance. Advances in Social Work and Welfare Education, 19(2), 25–40.
Mostowska, M. (2014). ‘We shouldn’t but we do …’: Framing the strategies for helping homeless EU migrants in Copenhagen and Dublin. British Journal of Social Work, 44(Supp1), i18–i34. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcu043.
Muñoz, C, & Young, M. (2016). Is infiltrating migrant prisons the most effective way to challenge detention regimes? The case of the National Immigrant Youth Alliance: GDP Working Paper No. 17. Global Detention Project. Retrieved from https://www.
globaldetentionproject.org/infiltrating-migrant-prisons-effective-way-challenge-detention-regimes-case-national-immigrantyouth-alliance.
Pease, B., Vreugdenhil, A., & Stanford, S. (2018). Towards a critical ethics of care in social work. In B. Pease, A. Vreugdenhil, & S. Stanford (Eds.), Critical ethics of care in social work (pp. 3–15). Milton Park, United Kingdom: Routledge.
Portelli, J., & Eizadirad, A. (2018). Subversion in education: Common misunderstandings and myths. International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 9(1), 53–72.
Tronto, J. C. (1993). Moral boundaries: A political argument for an ethic of care. New York, NY: Routledge.
Turiel, E. (2003). Resistance and subversion in everyday life. Journal of Moral Education, 32(2), 115–130.
Wallace, J., & Pease, B. (2011). Neoliberalism and Australian social work: Accommodation or resistance? Journal of Social Work, 11(2), 132–142. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468017310387318
Williams, C., & Briskman, L. (2015). Reviving social work through moral outrage. Critical and Radical Social Work, 3(1), 3–17.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2018 Australian and New Zealand Social Work and Welfare Education and Research
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Advances in Social Work & Welfare Education by Australian and New Zealand Social Work and Welfare Education and Research (ANZSWWER) is licensed under CC BY 4.0
