Abstract
As one might expect from Peter Beresford, this is an important book that explores the exclusionary nature of prevailing political ideologies and argues for participatory approaches. As the blurb states, it brings together theory, practice and the relationship between participation, political ideology and social welfare to offer a practical guide for change. I certainly recommend it.
The preface highlights how Covid-19, Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements and renewed action against climate change have led to grassroots pressure for global political and social change. This is opposed by market-driven neoliberalism and right-wing populism which highlights the gulf between dominant narrowly based political ideologies and popular demands for social justice, environmentalism and human rights. The book goes on to examine the exclusionary nature of prevailing political ideologies at a time of increased interest in grassroots citizen participation, instead arguing for more participatory approaches in public policy and practice.
The text is divided into three parts which respectively focus on ideology, participation and challenging dominant ideologies through participatory action. Part 1 has three chapters examining, for example, political ideology, ideology’s relationship with individuals and the (lack of) participation by people in shaping ideology. There is also an interesting discussion on ‘our ideological inheritance’ including nationalism, colonialism and social liberalism, together with last century’s fascism and communism. Part 2 has two chapters focusing on reconnecting ideology and participation with a key question being can ideology be liberatory without participation? In answering this, insights for such participation from the ‘new social movements’ of the last quarter of the 20th century, including service user movements are considered. Such movements remind us that swathes of people were being left out or marginalized in political and other developments, including oppositional developments. And in Part 3 four chapters, including the conclusion, focus on making participatory ideology real beginning with individual involvement through to working together to take collective action to bring about change. Much of this is explored from the disabled peoples’ movement because of the barriers and disempowerment they successfully challenged and the broader insights this provides. Concepts and ideas such as power, difference, empowerment, language and knowledge are all considered.
Overall, a powerful case is made for participatory ideology and the need to value people’s knowledge and experience. However, having been a practicing social worker over several decades attempting to work from a critical/radical perspective (see, for example, Rogowski 2016), I was a little uneasy with the way that Marx and Marxism are rather summarily dealt with. As Garrett (2021) reminds us, although Marx was writing in the nineteenth century his work has undoubted continued resonance, not least for critical/radical and dissenting social work. One has only to recall Marx’s influence in the radical social work movement of the 1970s (Bailey and Brake 1975) which still has contemporary significance through academics such as Iain Ferguson and Michael Lavalette as well as journals such as the Critical and Radical Social Work. Moreover, a strength of Marxism lies in its ability to outline an alternative future with an oppositional way of living in the present. And in terms of critical/radical/dissenting social work, arguably there are three areas where it retains its relevance. First, in expanding the politics of engagement and progressive coalition building by linking with service user and social movements more generally. Second, in evolving distinctive forms of critical praxis by, for example, impacting on the way practitioners engage with service users. And third, providing a new knowledge project to view issues and practices afresh and generate new theoretical insights. All this is linked to broader questions relating to class, gender, ‘race’ and other intersectional considerations, while having the potential to be an antidote to uncritical, mainstream conceptualisations of ‘social problems’ (see Garrett 2021 for a full discussion).
Despite the aforementioned caveat, and as alluded to, this is a welcome book. As Beresford states ‘when the very future of the planet is uncertain and conflict both within societies and between them seems to be at a high, we urgently need some kind of seismic change that prioritizes personal, collective and global security and wellbeing’ (p. 139). As Yasmin Alibhai-Brown states in the foreword he ‘is onto something big’ (p. xi) so it is no surprise that this book will certainly appeal to social work students, practitioners and academics, as well as those in related fields.