Part I: Critical potential and current challenges
Chapter 1: The critical tradition of social work
Chapter 2: Current contexts of practice: Challenges and possibilities
Part II: Rethinking ideas
Chapter 3: New ways of knowing
Chapter 4: Power
Chapter 5: Discourse, language and narrative
Chapter 6: Identity and difference
Part III: Redeveloping practices
Chapter 7: Critical deconstruction and reconstruction
Chapter 8: Empowerment
Chapter 9: Problem conceptualisation and assessment
Chapter 10: Narrative strategies
Chapter 11: Contextual practice: Strategies for working in and with contexts
Chapter 12: Ongoing learning

Now 20 years since its first publication, Jan Fook returns to update her seminal text. Celebrating the ageless ideals of the profession, this book throws a life belt to all social work students and professionals looking to engage with the critical tradition of social work to improve their understanding and practice. Part One: Critical Potential and Current Challenges sets the historical and current contexts for critical social work, introducing you to what critical social work is and what it means for practice. Part Two: Rethinking Ideas unpicks the major concepts associated with critical social work, including knowledge, power, discourse, identity, and difference, and how these need to be rethought in new contexts. Part Three: Redeveloping Practices illustrates how these new ideas can inform new practices, proving you with all the tools you need to deliver flexible, responsible and responsive social work practice.