The previous chapter examined the development and expansion of neoliberal ideas. It then went on to look at the recent application of that group of policies – particularly changes to the welfare system and the reduction in the provision of public services – that have come to be known as ‘austerity’. This chapter explores the implications for social work practice of the various discourses that explain poverty.

Class

One of the main arguments put forward here is that any consideration or analysis of the causes of poverty are curiously both present and absent in debates about the nature of current social work practice. The emphasis in social work theory is still heavily tilted to psychodynamic explanations at the expense of sociological approaches. Social workers, as Howe (2014) rightly notes, come from a range of theoretical perspectives; this has and always will be the case. (The social, psychological and stigmatising impacts of poverty are examined in more depth in the following chapter.) As I argue throughout this book, there is a need for a refocusing of social work practice. This requires a shift from procedural and risk-driven approaches that have developed as a result of the broader sociological and cultural shifts, allowing for a form of practice that allows social work to meet the ambitious aims of the International Federation of Social Workers’ (IFSW) definition of social work as:

There has been an increasing interest in class and related issues, particularly following the economic crisis of 2008. For example, Piketty's Capital in the 21st century (2014) has sold over 1.5 million copies. Nine million people completed the Great British Class Survey (Savage et al, 2013). Class is not simply an economic issue. It often seems a particularly British or possibly English obsession.