Table Of ContentRevitalising Critical Refection
in Contemporary Social Work
Research, Practice and Education
Globally, social work faces increasingly complex cultural, political, economic,
legal, organisational, technological and professional conditions.
Critically refecting on the subject, this book heightens critical conscious-
ness among social work researchers, educators, practitioners and students about
the structural dimensions of social problems and human suffering; it highlights
the inter-relationship between agency and structure and discusses strategies to
c hallenge and change both individual and societal consciousness.
Offering the reader an opportunity to gain in-depth understanding of how
critical refection is possible in contemporary social work research, practice and
education, it will be required reading for all social work scholars, students and
professionals.
Christian Franklin Svensson holds a Ph.D. in anthropology and social innova-
tion. Using ethnographic approaches and policy analysis, he has a focus on issues
of welfare, civil society, social change, migration, inclusion, cross-sectoral cooper-
ation and community. From several years of teaching and supervision, Svensson
is frmly rooted in quality assurance and curriculum development in international
programmes. He has been a peer-reviewer for a number of journals including
The Danish Anthropological Association, South Asia Research Journal, South Asian
Development, Social Work and Society, The Inclusion Journal and VOLUNTAS.
Svensson is an appointed external expert with the European Union Institutions;
a UNESCO Inclusive Policy Lab expert; and an associate member of the Centre
for the Study of Global Human Movement, University of Cambridge.
Pia Ringø holds a Ph.D. in sociology and social work. She is an associate pro-
fessor of social work at the Department of Sociology and Social Work, Aalborg
University, Denmark. She is the research manager of the research group SOSA
addressing the specialised social work in the feld of psychiatry and disability
research. Pia Ringø has methodological competencies in method, theory and con-
cept development within the social sciences and social work. Her scientifc focus
is on theory of science, realism, integrated analytical models and development
of scientifc models as ways to analyse the interaction between politics, manage-
ment, knowledge and practice.
Routledge Advances in Social Work
Social Work and Climate Justice
International Perspectives
Edited by Devendraraj Madhanagopal and Bala Raju Nikku
Social Work and Human Services Responsibilities in a
Time of Climate Change
Country, Community and Complexity
Amanda Howard, Margot Rawsthorne, Pam Joseph, Mareese Terare,
Dara Sampson and Meaghan Katrak-Harris
Revolutionary Social Work
Promoting Systemic Changes
Edited by Masoud Kamali
Using Art for Social Transformation
International Perspective for Social Workers, Community Workers
and Art Therapies
Edited by Eltje Bos and Ephrat Huss
Revitalising Critical Refection in Contemporary Social Work
Research, Practice and Education
Edited by Christian Franklin Svensson and Pia Ringø
The Body Politics of Glocal Social Work
Essays on the Post-Anthropocentric Condition
Mona B. Livholts
https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Advances-in-Social-Work/book-series/
RASW
Revitalising Critical Refection
in Contemporary Social
Work Research, Practice and
Education
Edited by
Christian Franklin Svensson
and Pia Ringø
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Christian Franklin Svensson and
Pia Ringø; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Christian Franklin Svensson and Pia Ringø to be identifed
as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their
individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and
78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Svensson, Christian Franklin, editor. | Ringø, Pia, editor.
Title: Revitalising critical refection in contemporary social work
research, practice and education / edited by Christian Franklin Svensson
and Pia Ringø.
Description: 1 Edition. | New York, NY: Routledge, 2023. |
Series: Routledge advances in social work | Includes bibliographical
references and index. |
Identifers: LCCN 2022030232 (print) | LCCN 2022030233 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781032163178 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032163420 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003248057 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Social service. | Social service—Research.
Classifcation: LCC HV40 .R3896 2023 (print) |
LCC HV40 (ebook) | DDC 344.03—dcundefned
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022030232
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022030233
ISBN: 978-1-032-16317-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-16342-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-24805-7 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003248057
Typeset in Goudy
by codeMantra
Contents
Preface vii
List of contributors ix
1 Critical reflection: concepts and forms of knowledge
in a global world 1
PIA RINGØ AND CHRISTIAN FRANKLIN SVENSSON
2 The sociology of knowledge: ideology, critical reflection and
the consequences of capitalism to social work 10
MARIA APPEL NISSEN
3 Critique in social work research: arguments for a synthesis
between critical realism and German critical theory 24
SØREN RUDBÆK JUUL AND PIA RINGØ
4 Critical reflections on international social work research:
beyond South/North divides 38
JESSICA JÖNSSON, AINA LIAN FLEM AND
SOFIE GHAZANFAREEON KARLSSON
5 Healing past wounds or addressing the future? Critical social
work in post-war settings 52
METTE LIND KUSK AND RASMUS SOMMER HANSEN
6 Experiences of ethnic discrimination: potentials for social
change in Taiwan 66
PEI-CHI HO AND CHRISTIAN FRANKLIN SVENSSON
7 The use of reflective processes and teams in the practice of
supervision: a critical glance 80
WONG PEACE YUH JU AND KIERAN O’DONOGHUE
vi Contents
8 Mature law in the Nordic countries: critical perspectives on
social work in the context of public authority 92
PETER VANGSGAARD
9 From experimentalism to governance tool: local
community work caught between emancipative goals and the
sanctioning state 105
MIA ARP FALLOV
10 Learning from user perspectives: critical refections in the
frontline of employment-oriented social work 118
MAJA LUNDEMARK ANDERSEN
11 Applying a salutogenic and interactional approach to critically
refect on perspectives on disability in social work 131
HEIDI PEDERSEN, JANNE MARITA ALVESTAD LIAAEN AND
TONJE CECILIE INDRØY
12 Inclusion is a two-way process: policy and social intervention
among migrants 144
LYDIA NHETA AND CHRISTIAN FRANKLIN SVENSSON
13 Knowing risk: why we need an empirical quantitative critique
in social work and research 156
MERETE MONRAD AND MORTEN EJRNÆS
14 Decision making and risk in social work: critical refections on
digital technologies 169
LENE MOSEGAARD SØBJERG AND BRIAN J. TAYLOR
15 Revitalising the concept of surface and depth: an analytical
tool for critical refection 182
PIA RINGØ AND DAVID HOWE
16 The promise of social change: critical refections on
social innovation 196
CHRISTIAN FRANKLIN SVENSSON AND STEPHEN CARNEY
Index 209
Preface
The world is connected. What seems to be a distant problem on the other side of
the globe rapidly shows to be a collective matter calling for collective solutions.
The acknowledgment of the inter-relation of the global population has in recent
years been intensifed, not least due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, the war in
Ukraine, humanitarian catastrophes across the globe and dominating logic ena-
bling economic rationales, performance and productivity as ideology enabling a
decline in biodiversity and natural resources. This reveals an increased need for
sustainable solutions and responses based on ontology of non-growth leading to
enhanced human possibilities.
The central concept of critical refection is unfolded through refections
on knowledge about social problems, oppressing structures and deliberating
e mancipatory strategies across a contextual global North/South divide. The book
enters critical thinking by including refections on historical-social-political-
economic contexts. Issues regarding constraining forces, e.g., neoliberalism, new
public management and logical positivist traditions, are addressed in a consistent
manner across the chapters – specifcally with reference to social change and
strategies.
The chapters capture a curiosity about the dialectics between the lifeworld
and the life chances of people on the one hand, and on the other, the institu-
tional settings they are a part of. Critical refection is perceived as a powerful
form of knowledge about potentials and barriers for social change, solidarity and
human liberation in social work and research across contexts. It is a dual focus on
structural conditions assumed to affect social problems, social policies and social
work, while at the same time being open and explorative in terms of the use
and development of methodological approaches and the potentials of collective
agency.
Several researchers and philosophers attempt to capture the social and
relational fundament of humankind. From birth and throughout life, a depend-
ency on other humans is a fundamental part of being human. The Danish
philosopher Knud Løgstrup describes it as a mutual connectedness where inter-
dependence is a premise for freedom. Similarly, neuroscientist Simon Baren-
Cohen describes how complementing forms of life have been a premise for human
viii Preface
progress and evolution. While humankind is emphasised as being fundamentally
inter- dependent, the in-dependent and resilient human being is today a dominant
view of the human being, and knowledge about social problems easily becomes
atomised and individualised. In continuation of this, there is a need to develop
knowledge in research and practice that expands the perception of social prob-
lems without individualising structural conditions. It is a need for being open
and explorative in order to develop critical reflective approaches that capture not
only the local, but also the global connectedness to develop collective sustainable
solutions.
The contributions in this volume illustrate how we might work with such
issues. Notions of surface and depth provide a starting point for critical reflec-
tion. The chapters span issues of concern to both the global North and South,
migrant groups, people with disabilities and professions in various forms of social
work and intervention dealing with marginalised lives. They mark out fields of
concern that encompass the macro-dimensions of capitalism and public authority
to the grounded everyday realities of local communities. There are examples from
traditional practice fields, as well as analyses of emerging areas that are being
transformed by digital technologies. Throughout the contributions, we encounter
a breath of perspectives that place research and practice, peoples and places as
well as concepts and ideas in deep dialogue, always with the aim of developing
knowledge that is inclusive and bending towards a sense of justice. A sociological
imagination is deployed, inviting us to think critically and inclusively to prepare
us to address the challenges of our time.
Christian Franklin Svensson and Pia Ringø
Contributors
Maja Lundemark Andersen is a qualifed social worker and holds a Ph.D. in
social work. She is an associate professor and head of the M.A. programme in
social work at Aalborg University, Denmark.
Stephen Carney is a professor of educational studies at Roskilde University in
Denmark, where he leads its Global Humanities programme. His research
focuses on global educational reform and comparative method. He was the
president of the Comparative Education Society in Europe (CESE) between
2016 and 2022.
Morten Ejrnæs is a sociologist (MSS) from the University of Copenhagen.
He has a focus on social problems, ethnic minorities and poverty as well as
v alues and attitudes in social work. He has worked as a social worker both as a
v olunteer and as an employee in the NGO Settlement. He has been employed
at university colleges, where he has taught sociology to social work students.
From 1998 to 2018, Morten was an associate professor at Aalborg University.
Mia Arp Fallov holds a Ph.D. in sociology, and is an associate professor of social
integration and social policy strategies at the Department of Sociology and
Social Work, Aalborg University, Denmark. Her research concerns inequality
and its territorial variations across Europe and the social, urban and regional
policies aimed at tackling social exclusion and generating social cohesion. She
has studied local communities and neighbourhood regeneration efforts in a
cross-national perspective through ethnographic methods and policy analysis.
Aina Lian Flem is an associate professor affliated to the Department of Social
Work, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU),
Trondheim, Norway. Her research and teaching areas concern theoretical and
practical challenges for social work in a globalised world; critical/emancipa-
tory social work; critical pedagogy in diverse classroom contexts; international
social work; human rights with a special focus on child rights; social work
ethics and values.
Rasmus Sommer Hansen is an assistant professor at the Department of Social
Work, VIA University College, Aarhus, and he holds a Ph.D. degree in
