ABSTRACT
This chapter explores ways that critical social workers can expand possibilities for social change. There is a fundamental challenge for critical social workers. While the foundation of the approach is that the problem is structural oppression, and social justice is the core of social workers’ professional identity; it is very rare that ‘overthrow the system’ is part of our job description. The first foundational building block for social change practice is to acknowledge that critical social work explicitly seeks to redress societal imbalances of power and resources. The second foundational building block is that working from a critical perspective takes a significant level of commitment and a willingness to take risks; what some have called ‘moral courage’. The third foundational building block is a commitment to ongoing critical reflection. Ideas of how critical social workers can engage in activist practice can occur in three different settings: social change-focused organisations; mainstream organ-isations; and in our personal lives.
