Building a Foundation

The mainstream social work practice does not often include the main elements of radical social work. To understand how radical social work separates from the mainstream the operational definition given by Barbara Loundes Joseph (1975) which is “that practice which attempts to be of maximum service to people experiencing problems in their daily lives and at the same time are informed a commitment to radical social change.” Joseph goes on to expound on the definition that radical social work is about “defin[ing] those small and simple changes we can make- not as marking time- but a seeding, a building of a foundation by our daily work. Such a practice is based upon an understanding of the nature of capitalism, its racism and imperialism and the pejorative theories of human nature which underlie and perpetuate these (Ibid).” There is a more philosophical definition provided by social worker John F. Longres in regard to social work casework which he states that “radical casework is consonant with Marxist social vision. The starting point is historical materialism or the transcendence of the economic order over social behavior… The development of class consciousness or the desire to work collectively toward altering alienating conditions is the socio-psychological process to be encouraged. The ideals of socialism are offered as an alternative to the ideals of capitalism.” (Longres, 1977). These two parallel definitions sum up, in my estimation, the basics of radical social work practice. The perspective is analogous to reading the daily news in, on the handling of Hurricane Katrina for instance, the New York Times, juxtaposed with the reading of the weekly Socialist Worker (socialist newspaper) the difference in the perspective is obvious, one is seeking to tow a capitalist party line of blaming hierarchical social agencies, the other is looking through the socialist lens and seeking to report the root causes of the tragedy which include class inequality, racism and oppression.