Social work and social theory : making connections / Paul Michael Garrett.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 217-247) and index.

"In order to work effectively, social workers need to understand theoretical concepts and develop critical theory. In this unique book, Paul Michael Garrett seeks to bring the profession into the orbit of the anti-capitalist movement and encourages a new engagement with theorists, rarely explored in social work, such as Antonio Gramsci, Pierre Bourdieu and Nancy Fraser. The book also provides brief, insightful introductions to other important thinkers such as Antonio Negri, Alain Badiou, Luc Boltanski and Ève Chiapello. It provides an accessible and exhilarating introduction for practitioners, students, social work academics and other readers interested in social theory and critical social policy. The book will be a vital resource aiding those intent on creating a new, more radical, social work. It will also be a useful teaching tool to spark lively classroom discussion."--Publisher's website.

Introduction -- Part One. Debating modernity. 'How to be modern': theorising modernity ; 'Solid' modernity and 'liquid' modernity ; Modernity and capitalism ; Modernity and the unfinished neoliberal project -- Part Two. Theorists. Thinking with Gramsci ; Thinking with Bourdieu ; Thinking with Habermas ; Thinking with Honneth and Fraser ; New directions? Boltanski and Chiapello, Negri and Badiou ; Conclusion.