Abolish Social Work

by Craig Fortier (Editor), Edward Hon-Sing Wong (editor), M.J. Rwigema (editor)

Abolish Social Work (As We Know It) responds to the timely and important call for police abolition by analyzing professional social work as one alternative commonly proposed as a ready-made solution to ending police brutality. Drawing on both historical analysis and lessons learned from decades of organizing abolitionist and decolonizing practices within the field and practice of social work (including social service, community organizing, and other helping fields), this book is an important contribution in the discussion of what abolitionist social work could look like. This edited volume brings together predominantly BIPOC and queer/trans* social work survivors, community-based activists, educators, and frontline social workers to propose both an abolitionist framework for social work practice and a transformative framework that calls for the dissolution and restructuring of social work as a profession. 

Rejecting the practices and values encapsulated by professional social work as embedded in carceral and colonial systems, Abolish Social Work (As We Know It) moves us towards a social work framework guided by principles of mutual aid, accountability, and relationality led by Indigenous, Black, queer/trans*, racialized, immigrant, disabled, poor and other communities for whom social work has inserted itself into their lives.

Genres: Social Work, Nonfiction, School, Politics

246 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 12, 2024

Reviews

[Rachel Van Zeumeren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved reading this book for my BSW program because it made me not want to be a social worker anymore and have an existential crisis. Thanks Craig!

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked this up as a social sciences student hoping to go into social work who also believes in police abolition. Social workers have been brought up numerous times as alternatives for police, and this book does a very good job of explaining why it is not so simple. I liked that the book outlines specifics of what needs to change within the social work profession, but also admits that there is the potential that the role as it is may need to be phased out. As an aspiring social worker that might seem counter to my own interests, but it is not presented in a defeatist manner, the work and changes that are presented as part of this are hopeful and imagine a system and a world that is more just than the one we live in. This is the kind of work that I would feel good about participating in, much more than prioritizing obtaining a specific license or having power over vulnerable people. Some chapters got slightly repetitive of certain ideas, but that may be due to the large number of contributors, which was also very valuable for the subject matter. Very much recommend this work for anyone considering the social services sector or wanting to get involved in mutual aid.

[Gabrielle Bellemare · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'ai appris beaucoup sur le travail social communautaire pratiqué dans le R.O.C et sur les enjeux sociaux invisibilisés dans les autres provinces du Canada. Aussi, j'ai aimé que certains chapitres portent plus sur des critiques et la dénonciation de pratiques délétères pour les groupes marginalisés, et que d'autres mettent en lumières des initiatives communautaires qui ont fait vivre des formes de succès aux populations noires et autochtones sur le terrain.

Par contre, le livre a le défaut de ses qualités, les courts chapitres rendent le tout facile à lire et maintienne l'attention, mais j'en aurait pris plus pour la plupart des sujets. Aussi, peut-être par manque de temps pour la direction/édition, mais plusieurs amorces de chapitres faisaient de la «redite» en remettant en contexte le point de vue abolitionniste du travail social, et à la longue, c'est lassant.

Aussi, je ne peux que me demander qu'en est-il des pratiques au Québec? Serais-je celle qui portera le flambeau de cette pensée critique hihi?

[اشرف رملي · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started on this book to find more general ideas about abolitionist social work to apply to my own practice in Singapore, but found it to be a collection of essays of local experiences of abolitionist practice in Canada. One profound chapter is “The Only Good Social Worker is a Criminal Social Worker.” It reminds me of the small risks that we as social workers can take to minimize the huge risks that our service users might face if they didn’t get the assistance/placement/other things necessary for their survival.