Social Work Perspectives

Introduction

Section 2 on social work perspectives provides an overview of key perspectives that have been formed within social work and shows how these have been adopted and critiqued by social workers. The chapters in this section cover a range of practice theories and approaches to direct work, within a social work frame of reference and a professional value base. A perspective is a way of looking at the world or a type of reasoning about how to approach a problem. When considering the concept of perspective, C. Wright Mills is often cited with his Sociological Imagination describing a sociological mindset that is being able to connect individual experiences to societal relationships. The ‘social perspective’ is a way of looking at the complex dimensions of society. It sees society as something over and above the people who are living in that society. In social work, perspectives are derived from complex theoretical and methodological frameworks used to analyse and explain areas of intervention. Coverage of a range of perspectives will assist students and practitioners in developing a framework for integrating theory and methods to different practice contexts. Adopting a particular perspective or combination of perspectives is often dependent on the client group and type of social service provision offered. Arguably, assessment, planning, and intervention should be guided by explicit perspectives.

In providing material that forges a connection between social work and methodologically driven and conceptual approaches, this section is important for readers in making sense of the various frameworks informing the implementation of social work interventions. It will help readers map a set of influences and trajectories, particularly in relation to different ideological and normative perspectives, by running them between or across one another. This helps to establish key links and to identify relationships for or against different standpoints and the way in which these have been translated into various fields of practice.

In Chapter 7, Pamela Trevithick introduces social work practice as a highly skilled activity that calls for an extensive knowledge base, a professional education, and well-honed intellectual ability. Through presentation of a practice example, Trevithick describes the use of her Knowledge and Skills Practice Framework systematically to structure and inform the interventions used in terms of three knowledge domains: theoretical, factual, and practice knowledge. A particular feature of this framework is its location of service users' knowledge within the same [Page 110]framework as that of social workers and other professionals who draw upon a diverse range of ‘practice perspectives’, as this section shows.

In Chapter 8, Gordon Jack elaborates the ‘ecosystems perspective’ still dominant in social work today, and explains the way that ecological theory has been applied to human development, helping social workers to understand the ways in which children and adults both shape and are shaped by their environments. These shaping processes take place through interactions between safety and risk factors in different spheres of life. Using examples from work with children and families, the implications of an ecological perspective for the development of holistic and anti-oppressive forms of social work practice are critically examined. Jack highlights the central importance of developing a culture of listening to the personal experiences of the children and adults with whom social work engages. This means promoting access to sources of support, especially through informal social networks and building the capacity of different communities to meet the needs of their members.

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