“Passing on” Critical Social Work

Abstract

For this chapter, critical social work in wealthy welfare state contexts is oriented as a disciplinary formation shaped by its scholars and educators, subject to shifts in the role of the university and embedded in broader geopolitical contexts. My point of departure is the question of “passing on,” of reproducing, critical social work from one generation to the next through the pedagogical and scholarly channels of a university discipline. Grounded in feminist traditions, my founding premise is that standpoints—perspectives, orientations, vantage points, lenses, attunements—are shared rather than individual. Moreover, shared standpoints, such as those signalled by a “critical social work,” must be built and rebuilt over time and place. I therefore conceptualise social work as a worldmaking project that exceeds the state, university, or profession, or indeed, any one generation’s sense of the possible and the desirable, and I identify and discuss two major generational shifts requiring greater consideration in critical iterations of professional social work.