Social Work at the Crossroads: The Empirical Highway or the Postmodern/Critical Off-Ramp?

Brett Drake; David R. Hodge

doi:10.1177/10497315221077450

Social Work at the Crossroads: The Empirical Highway or the Postmodern/Critical Off-Ramp?

Brett Drake, David R. Hodge

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

The social work profession may be at a paradigmatic inflection point. Social work’s emphasis on evidence and scientific evaluation of knowledge is being challenged by what we term a “Postmodern/Critical Theory” perspective. To facilitate understanding of this crossroads and some of the issues involved, we trace the lineage of both perspectives and describe the core components of each. We conclude with a section laying out some of the advantages and disadvantages of either staying the “Empirical Highway” or taking the “Postmodern/Critical Off-Ramp”.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	363-373
Number of pages	11
Journal	Research on Social Work Practice
Volume	32
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/10497315221077450
State	Published - May 2022

Keywords

critical theory
empiricism
enlightenment
postmodernism
social work profession

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
Sociology and Political Science
Psychology(all)

Access to Document

10.1177/10497315221077450

Cite this

@article{1d464e2d920d45a4b0c9470ae0ae1624,

title = "Social Work at the Crossroads: The Empirical Highway or the Postmodern/Critical Off-Ramp?",

abstract = "The social work profession may be at a paradigmatic inflection point. Social work{\textquoteright}s emphasis on evidence and scientific evaluation of knowledge is being challenged by what we term a “Postmodern/Critical Theory” perspective. To facilitate understanding of this crossroads and some of the issues involved, we trace the lineage of both perspectives and describe the core components of each. We conclude with a section laying out some of the advantages and disadvantages of either staying the “Empirical Highway” or taking the “Postmodern/Critical Off-Ramp”.",

keywords = "critical theory, empiricism, enlightenment, postmodernism, social work profession",

author = "Brett Drake and Hodge, {David R.}",

note = "Funding Information: The Authors would like to thank many of our colleagues who graciously read and offered numerous helpful suggestions on the manuscript, including Nancy L. Weaver, Professor of Behavioral Science at Saint Louis University. The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2022.",

year = "2022",

month = may,

doi = "10.1177/10497315221077450",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "32",

pages = "363--373",

journal = "Research on Social Work Practice",

issn = "1049-7315",

publisher = "SAGE Publications Inc.",

number = "4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Social Work at the Crossroads

T2 - The Empirical Highway or the Postmodern/Critical Off-Ramp?

AU - Drake, Brett

AU - Hodge, David R.

N1 - Funding Information: The Authors would like to thank many of our colleagues who graciously read and offered numerous helpful suggestions on the manuscript, including Nancy L. Weaver, Professor of Behavioral Science at Saint Louis University. The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2022.

PY - 2022/5

Y1 - 2022/5

N2 - The social work profession may be at a paradigmatic inflection point. Social work’s emphasis on evidence and scientific evaluation of knowledge is being challenged by what we term a “Postmodern/Critical Theory” perspective. To facilitate understanding of this crossroads and some of the issues involved, we trace the lineage of both perspectives and describe the core components of each. We conclude with a section laying out some of the advantages and disadvantages of either staying the “Empirical Highway” or taking the “Postmodern/Critical Off-Ramp”.

AB - The social work profession may be at a paradigmatic inflection point. Social work’s emphasis on evidence and scientific evaluation of knowledge is being challenged by what we term a “Postmodern/Critical Theory” perspective. To facilitate understanding of this crossroads and some of the issues involved, we trace the lineage of both perspectives and describe the core components of each. We conclude with a section laying out some of the advantages and disadvantages of either staying the “Empirical Highway” or taking the “Postmodern/Critical Off-Ramp”.

KW - critical theory

KW - empiricism

KW - enlightenment

KW - postmodernism

KW - social work profession

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85125961912&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85125961912&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/10497315221077450

DO - 10.1177/10497315221077450

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85125961912

SN - 1049-7315

VL - 32

SP - 363

EP - 373

JO - Research on Social Work Practice

JF - Research on Social Work Practice

IS - 4

ER -

Social Work at the Crossroads: The Empirical Highway or the Postmodern/Critical Off-Ramp?

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this