Abstract
Through a social constructionist perspective, Witkin has produced an erudite text written in a rich and compelling manner, even with a touch of drama. His nimble intelligence is fully on display as evidenced by the extensive references drawn from many disciplines: philosophy, psychology, literature, gender and cultural studies, history, political theory, sociology, and social work itself. Especially impressive is his ease and acuity in distilling the thoughts of important twentieth century philosophers, which are threaded into the book.
In his introduction, Witkin makes a crucial observation that is all too often overlooked in social work discourse: “There is a contradiction between social work’s self-promotion as an advocate for progressive social change and its conservative intellectualism.” When social work talks about change it is usually with reference to individual or social change; Witkin is after something more fundamental—sweeping intellectual change. In eight engaging chapters replete with examples, he gives us a way to outfit social work’s central core of concerns—ethics, human rights, cultural competence, risk, the strengths perspective, global issues, knowledge, and evidence—with new clothes. It is bracing, inspiring, and transformational.
A contextual theme appearing at key junctures in the book is the baneful influence of neoliberalism. This doctrine, on the rise since the early 1980s and with deep roots in classical liberal thought, prowls the social and economic landscapes promoting the market as the linchpin and framing metaphor for all our activities; hence, the ascendency of privatization, responsibilization, managerialism, proceduralism, and accountability, leaves in its wake the ideal citizen, who is independent, self-sufficient, and entrepreneurial. Even key social work concepts like empowerment have been enervated by the neoliberal crusade; “Consequently, empowerment takes on a purely individualistic meaning,” writes Witkin, “rendering structural/systemic factors irrelevant.”
Witkin acknowledges at the outset that his intellectual wellspring for structuring the book is postmodernism/social construction; he sees this valuable lode of thought as the most fruitful for creating transformative change through a profound shift in how we think about ontology and epistemology. In the introduction, Witkin provides three examples for what this change looks like: (1) a shift from transcendental, universal truth to the idea of truths that reflect historical, cultural, and social contexts; (2) a shift from language as reflecting reality to a view that language constructs realities; and (3) a shift from the individual to the social as the starting point for interpretation and analysis. He explicates this outline fully in his critique of modernism and its constituent principles: an absolute belief in reason and science as the sole engines of progress; an a priori confidence that foundationalism and essentialism actually exist beyond mere nominalism. Postmodernist/social constructionist viewpoints embrace ambiguity, fluidity, provisionality, uncertainty, diversity, power formations as creating knowledge, multiple truths (the truth is made, not found) and perhaps above all, following Nietzsche: a perspectival outlook, rather than a single-eyed Cyclopean vision. I used this book in a course with MSW graduate students in the 2017–2018 academic year and found that the initial chapters, where Witkin lays out the principals for social constructionist thought, opened up some wonderful dialogues and conversations in the course.
Social work ethics and codes, as they are currently represented by the national association of social workers (NASW), are treated as old, tired metaphors in need of replacement. Witkin gives a summary of three main ethical stances: deontological, consequentialist, and virtue ethics. My students were intrigued by consequentialist and virtue ethical possibilities that might offer up something different than the rule-based forms they were mostly familiar with. In Witkin’s analysis, we are guided through the postmodern critique of universal essentialist ethics with their rigid codes and assumption that ethics can be reduced to simple right and wrong. Harvesting ideas and concepts from the work of Zgmunt Bauman, Ken Gergen, and Richard Rorty, and using other writings on postmodern ethics, Witkin skillfully and with elegance reassembles a complex body of scholarly work to persuade social workers that transformative ethical understandings are very possible and actually enhance our ethical positionings. He makes the case that “all social work is an exercise in ethics” and encourages us to relocate our thinking and practice to a place that is relational and dialogic.
In a fine chapter on human rights, Witkin’s skill in translating the thought of the philosopher Richard Rorty and the social theorist Zygmunt Bauman for social work cascades before us. Rorty argues that there is no universally applicable epistemology to judge moral or knowledge assertions. As a consequence, there are no foundationalist or essentialist validations for human rights. Instead of intellectual arguments for human rights, he advances the notion of imagining, through literature, poetry, and the arts, the plight and suffering of others, rather than claiming a priori grounds for justifying human rights. Literary scholar Northrop Frye puts this sentiment cogently: “Poetry speaks not the language of fact or reason, but the language of concern, of hopes and fears and desires and hatreds and dreams.” As well, Witkin picks up on Rorty’s notion of the “liberal ironist,” a term that could serve to redescribe the social worker. The liberal is a person who abhors cruelty, the ironist a person who cleaves to the idea that all views and conceptions of the truth are perspectival in a world pervaded by uncertainty and ambiguity.
Another philosopher Witkin brings into his narrative is Emmanual Levinas, whose work rests on the principle that ethics precedes knowledge, obligating us to recognize a profound relational responsibility to the Other. Levinas’s appearance in the chapter Difference, Noticing, and Cultural Competence provides intellectual heft for Witkin’s many-sided deconstruction of cultural competence. It’s as though Witkin has hung corrective lenses in the air to clarify our vision. As with other thinkers and concepts discussed in the book, there are concrete suggestions for applying Levinas in social work practice. In his examination of risk and “social work as risky business,” Witkin probes the impact of neoliberalism on risk for disadvantaged populations and the colonization of social policy by moral imperatives that reinforce individual responsibility for well-being. He extends this analysis in interrogating scientific rationality and risk, instrumental rationality, actuarialism, and quantification, all contributing to a legitimization of programs that emphasize individual responsibility while shoving social contextual factors to the margins. Witkin concludes that if we redescribe risk as socially constructed we may be able to let go of our obsession with controlling risk and incorporate irony in the way Rorty uses it to be more comfortable inhabiting a world and a social work practice of uncertainty, ambiguity, and complexity.
In a lovely chapter called “Re-constructing the Strengths Perspective,” Witkin gently and with care gives us a number of considerations for expanding social work’s repertoire for using a key perspective in its practice. Witkin’s close friend Dennis Saleebey, who died in 2014, is of course the chief architect of the strengths perspective for social work. Witkin advocates adding the word relational to the phrase strengths perspective, thereby aligning it fully with social constructionism. In the midst of the ruthless present, I found this chapter to be a much-needed tonic.
The brilliant final chapter, “Knowledge and Evidence: Exploring the Practice-Research Relationship” is one that Witkin confesses was hard to write. Hard to write, I imagine, because the ideas are intricate, and to take on evidence-based practice as the best way of knowing those of a postmodernist/social constructionist bent is to battle strong headwinds. No one in academic social work is better intellectually equipped than Witkin to venture into this controversy. Witkin, with Dennis Saleebey, founded the Global Partnership for Transforming Social Work, which has held an annual meeting in Burlington, Vermont for many years, and in books and articles that have flowed from this gathering evidence based practice (EBP) is seen as only one among many alternative and fully legitimate ways of knowing.
Transforming Social Work, if given a place in the curriculum, carries the definite possibility of reigniting the field with excitement and hope for the difficult work we do. Pulsing throughout this excellent and vivifying book, Witkin’s passion for a social work transformed glows radiantly and delivers a sense of liberation and abundance.