SWP 331 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Louis Althusser, Macrosociology, Neoliberalism

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Social Work
• Course: SWP 331
• Professor: Kristin Smith

Document Summary

Socially constructed: human made, relevant to the context in which it was/is created. Influenced by the social location of its creators and the trends in social work of the time. Laws: the human condition/society is too fluid and diverse to have definitive laws concerning social phenomena/deviance. Reflective: intuitive, open-ended/minded, subjective, responding in the moment to the individual: bottom-up: each social worker works quasi-independently, providing their unique response, instead of taking step-by-step empirical instructions from funders/leaders/academics, addresses individual wants and needs. Reflexive: combines and empirical and reflective approaches: d(cid:396)a(cid:449)s o(cid:374) p(cid:396)a(cid:272)titio(cid:374)e(cid:396)"s e(cid:454)pe(cid:396)ie(cid:374)(cid:272)e, as (cid:449)ell as e(cid:448)ide(cid:374)(cid:272)e a(cid:374)d (cid:396)esea(cid:396)(cid:272)h, top and bottom-down: takes instruction from funders/leaders/academics, but also approaches each client with their unique perspective. Theories are the basis of our assumptions. Theories often remain hidden until acknowledged and studied in depth. Ofte(cid:374) do(cid:374)"t see thi(cid:374)gs f(cid:396)o(cid:373) othe(cid:396) pe(cid:396)spe(cid:272)ti(cid:448)es u(cid:374)til (cid:455)ou stud(cid:455) (cid:373)ultiple theo(cid:396)ies a(cid:374)d see ho(cid:449) things work from multiple perspectives.