Finding Space for Radical Practice

This chapter looks at the spaces and opportunities for radical practice that arise from discretion still available to social workers, with a particular focus on statutory settings. This is based on Marxist explanations of the state that were introduced in Chapter 1 and on the work of a non-Marxist but cogent commentator, the US sociologist Lipsky. This chapter, as Chapter 2, will focus on theory. There would be little point in pursuing this argument (which is a basic assumption of the book) unless evidence can be located that supports it as a proposition. Such a focus will also have to address the arguments of the critics who suggest, on the one hand, that Lipsky’s ideas are not relevant to social work, or who regard the managerialist project in social work to be so complete that discretion, however explained or previously demonstrated, has been curtailed. This chapter will therefore look at how spaces might be found within the agendas set by state organizations concerned primarily with risk management and evidence-based practice.