Practice Perspectives

The Importance of Practice Perspectives in Social Work

In their broadest use, perspectives cover whole areas of human experience. They are shaped by the assumptions and interpretations social workers make about the world and what it means to be human – how people come to be who they are and the factors influencing their development:

All human beings make assumptions in order to classify phenomena and to find meaning. However, an important influence on thought, feeling, and action is ideology, which describes a set of ideas, beliefs, or assumptions purporting ‘to form a comprehensive vision of the truth’ (Gray & Webb, 2009, p. 85) or to assert what is ‘real’ or ‘true’ in a given situation. It is a concept with ‘a close connection with power, since ideological systems serve to legitimate the differential power held by groups’ (Giddens, 2001, p. 691).

In relation to the practice perspectives adopted in social work, these too are underpinned by a number of assumptions influencing social workers' observations and beliefs [Page 114]about people and how they should respond to the situations they encounter. Various social work approaches to working with people are based on a number of assumptions and perspectives about human beings and human behaviour, although these may not always be made explicit. These perspectives inform differing perceptions and interpretations of personal and social problems, and the factors giving rise to particular dilemmas as to how social workers might work effectively with others to bring about the kind of change needed or desired. A social work approach or perspective ‘should include … evidence about the nature of effective working relationships, and methods to use within these relationships to promote change’ (Munro, 2011a, p. 12). However, making assumptions explicit can be a difficult undertaking when they lie beyond our immediate awareness – unnamed and, therefore, unowned. For this reason, considerable importance is given to critical thinking, critical reflection, and reflexivity as a way to recognise the assumptions social workers make and their impact on their practice (see Chapter 13). In this chapter, a knowledge and skills framework is used to identify, organise, and integrate the growing number of theories and perspectives in social work.

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