Developing a Cohesive Emancipatory Social Work Identity

Abstract

Within dominant North American discourse, individual freedom is a substantive tag line for the mind-numbing tacit approval of the loveless marriage between capitalism and democracy. This paper provides an overview of the conflicted relationship social work have with the politics of liberation, empowerment theory, and self-determination, underscoring an ongoing identity crisis, which has been dressed-up as ‘various tenets of the profession’. Connecting with the humanizing aspirations inherent to social work while building on critical and anti-oppressive theories and practices, I argue for social work to re-visualize and act on a cohesive emancipatory social work identity. True solidarity, which can only be uncovered through the relinquishing of a professional identity based on false consciousness and fear, is risking an act of love.

Keywords

• critical social work
• anti-oppresion
• empowerment
• liberation