Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate that there have recently been a number of major debates in social theory associated with the notion of postmodernity that should be taken seriously by social workers. Our essential argument is that such debates provide important insights into helping us to understand and conceptualise contemporary social work in a way which can inform practice itself. While the chapter can provide no more than an introduction to the area, we hope to provide sufficient signposts for readers to find their way through an ever-expanding and increasingly complex literature in a way which they will want to take forward. In particular, we will suggest that such a way of thinking is very instructive for articulating and developing notions of reflective practice.
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Further reading
Howe, D. (1994) ‘Modernity, postmodernity and social work’, British Journal of Social Work, 24(5), pp. 513–32.
Parton, N. (1994) ‘The nature of social work under conditions of (post)modernity’, Social Work and Social Science Review, 5(2), pp. 93–112. These two articles, published in 1994, offer a useful way of taking some of these ideas further.
Parton, N. (ed.) (1996) Social Theory, Social Change and Social Work (London, Routledge). Contains further examination of these issues by Howe and Parton, and a number of other chapters explicitly address issues related to social work and postmodernity.
Gould, N. and Taylor, I. (eds) (1996) Reflective Learning for Social Work: Research Theory and Practice (Aldershot, Arena). The links between social work, postmodernity and reflective learning figure centrally in this book.
White, M. and Epston, D. (1990) Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends (New York, Norton). A good source for anyone who is keen to explore the application of the use of ‘narrative’ to practice.
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© 1998 Nigel Parton and Wendy Marshall
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Parton, N., Marshall, W. (1998). Postmodernism and discourse approaches to social work. In: Adams, R., Dominelli, L., Payne, M., Campling, J. (eds) Social Work. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14400-6_20
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14400-6_20
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-68818-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-14400-6
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