Production and Reproduction

Abstract

Each of these chapters show the way in which certain concepts in Marxism and certain aspects of reality that social work comes across, are converging. The process of this convergence is by no means purely idealistic, that is to say, it is not simply that social work theory and Marxism are coming doser together on the plane of ideas, but rather the convergence signifies that the material reality which social work comes up against is forcing its theory and its practice along certain lines. These lines are intelligible, we believe, only through a Marxist analysis. Thus, in the chapter on Class, we will show how, increasingly, social workers come across inequalities and how Marxist analysis of class is but one form of explanation of those inequalities. In the chapter on the State, we will show how social workers are becoming increasingly aware of their role as part of the State apparatus, and we will provide an analysis of that apparatus and the social workers’ role within it With regard to the family, social workers are increasingly questioning whether this particular institution is one that it should always buttress or whether, in fact, it is one which does more harm than good; in Marxist terms, we will analyse this debate. Similarly, within social work the role of the individual in society and its exact importance is being increasingly questioned, and we will try to provide a beginning of a Marxist analysis of individual consciousness and ideology.