The result of collaboration between authors from Canada, Britain and Australia, Social Work in a Corporate Era provides a re-evaluation of the assumptions and practices of the critical social work tradition and explores the possibility of rebuilding an 'emancipatory' social work. Calling for the development of a new politics of social work practice, this book addresses many of the urgent issues facing welfare state practitioners in health and social services today.

Contents: Introduction. Theory, Reflection, Emotion: The uses of theory and the problems of pessimism, Peter Leonard; Critical reflection and transformative possibilities, Jan Fook; Post-theories for practice: challenging the dogmas, Nigel Parton; Subject-to-subject: reclaiming the emotional terrain for practice, Linda Davies and Sara Collings. Cultural Politics, Language, Collectivity: Whose side are you on? politicized identities, Michele Gnanamuttu; Texts and power: toward a critical theory of language, Anthony Paré; The reprofessionalization of social work: collaborative approaches for achieving professional recognition, Karen Healy and Gabrielle Meagher. Narrative, Critical Consciousness, Emancipation: Older women negotiating uncertainty in everyday life: contesting risk management systems, Amanda Grenier; Disrupting the narrative of white tutelage: reflections on post-colonial social work education, Laura Mastronardi; Social work practice and research as an emancipatory process, Kamal Fahmi; A concluding reflection, Linda Davies and Peter Leonard; Index.