A Violent History of Benevolence: Interlocking Oppression in the Moral Economies of Social Working

by Chris Chapman, A.J. Withers

A Violent History of Benevolence traces how normative histories of liberalism, progress, and social work enact and obscure systemic violences. Chris Chapman and A.J. Withers explore how normative social work history is structured in such a way that contemporary social workers can know many details about social work’s violences, without ever imagining that they may also be complicit in these violences. Framings of social work history actively create present-day political and ethical irresponsibility, even among those who imagine themselves to be anti-oppressive, liberal, or radical. The authors document many histories usually left out of social work discourse, including communities of Black social workers (who, among other things, never removed children from their homes involuntarily), the role of early social workers in advancing eugenics and mass confinement, and the resonant emergence of colonial education, psychiatry, and the penitentiary in the same decade. Ultimately, A Violent History of Benevolence aims to invite contemporary social workers and others to reflect on the complex nature of contemporary social work, and specifically on the present-day structural violences that social work enacts in the name of benevolence.

Genres: Social Work, History, Nonfiction, Social Justice

536 pages, Paperback

Published February 20, 2019

Reviews

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely amazing in depth research on the violent history of social work in Canada, tracing settler colonial and ableist policy through time.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd say that this is a required reading for any social worker in the field at whatever level you're practicing at (diploma, BSW, MSW, PhD). Really dives into the ways that we need to keep our field accountable to its own professional values.