Globalisation, Global Justice and Social Work
The past decade and a half has seen the pursuit of neo-liberal economic policies by governments throughout the world, as a key element of the wider process of economic, cultural and political transformation usually referred to as globalisation. These neo-liberal policies have had a profound impact on welfare regimes and on the nature of welfare provision generally. Social work has not been immune from this process of globalisation (see e.g. the special issue of the European Journal of Social Work, July, 2000). The growing role of the private sector within social work,; the imposition of managerial approaches; and the acute sense of alienation and unease experienced by many front-line social work practitioners are different aspects of the way in which neo-liberalism is impacting on social work services. At the same time, increasing dissatisfaction with the way in which this agenda is impacting on the lives of users of social work services and is shaping social work practice, coupled with a much more widespread anger at the destructive effects of globalisation on the lives of millions of people throughout the world (expressed through the ‘anti-capitalist’ or ‘anti-globalisation’ movement which emerged in Seattle in 1999) is fuelling a search for a new, more radical social work, which is firmly rooted in principles of social justice.
Based on a new text (Ferguson, Lavalette and Whitmore, 2004) with contributions from social work academics, practitioners and welfare activists in both ‘First World’ and ‘Third World’ countries, (including Argentina,Australia, Senegal, Britain, and Mexico) this paper will look at attempts to develop forms of emancipatory or radical social work practice which challenge this neo-liberal agenda, sometimes inspired by the activities of the anti-capitalist movement which has emerged since the WTO Conference in Seattle in 1999, sometimes originating in more local struggles. It will also consider the prospects for a renewal of social work radicalism in the areas of theory, research and practice in the coming decade.
Reference: Ferguson, I., Lavalette, M. amd Whitmore, E. (2004) Globalisation, Global Justice and Social Work, LOndon: Taylor and Francis.