From Development to Poverty Alleviation and the Not-So-Sustainable Sustainable Development

Gray, Mel

doi:10.1007/978-981-13-1542-8_6-1

Cited by 1 publication

(3 citation statements)

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“…Social development juxtaposed itself against social work as its nearest role model, taking pains to demonstrate how it differed from remedial, individualistic interventions, instead advocating holistic, integrated practice models, when, in fact, it had sought to influence, and forge closer links with, social work (Billups, 1990(Billups, , 1994Elliott, 1993;Gray, 2006;Midgley, 1995). Social work had done likewise with its successive Global Agendas of Social Work and Social Development (IASSW, IFSW, & ICSW, 2010, 2020 built on what Mohan (2008) referred to as the delusion of development.…”

Section: Reflecting On Shifting Concepts Theories Approaches and Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…My subsequent scholarship on indigenous, environmental, and decolonizing social work intensified my concerns about social development already outlined (Gray, Coates, & Hetherington, 2013;Gray, Coates, & Yellow Bird, 2008;Gray, Coates, Yellow Bird, & Hetherington, 2013). I was equally critical of the subsequent poverty alleviation and sustainable development discourses and their focus on human development (Gray, 2020;. This work led to the development of a critical model of developmental practice to address the weaknesses identified above (Gray & Lombard, 2023).…”

Section: Toward a Critical Model Of Developmental Practice: 2011 To P...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This paper traces the trajectory of my thinking on social development shaped, initially, by the huge changes that swept South Africa in the 1990s, at a time when there was very little understanding of what it entailed. My early optimism regarding its potential soon gave way to a more critical analysis, as it proved extremely difficult to translate to, and seemingly ineffective in, practice (Gray, 2010(Gray, , 2020Gray & Ariong, 2017). Crucial to this critical turn was my move to Australia in 1999, when it was in the throes of neoliberal welfare reform.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social Development: Synthesizing Theory and Practice

Gray

2023

Social Development Issues

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This paper traces the trajectory of my thinking on social development shaped, initially, by the huge changes that swept South Africa in the 1990s. It describes my early focus on discerning what the policy-driven changes to a developmental welfare system meant for social work and the subsequent critical turn, as social development proved extremely difficult to translate to practice. It traces the changes in my thinking on coming to Australia in 1999, when the country was undergoing a period of massive welfare reform, firmly embedding neoliberal privatization policy. In reflecting on switching concepts in the social development discourse, the discussion turns to its embrace of neoliberalism. Thereafter, it considers three models to highlight the turn from centralized planning, which held the government responsible for social development, to social enterprise, which divested government of its responsibility, and a critical development model that linked national policy to the wider international system. Noting critiques of neoliberal social development, the discussion ends with the current trajectory of my thinking outlined in a critical model for developmental practice with the core foci being the structural–political, cultural–contextual, critical–developmental, and environmental–spiritual dimensions of social development.

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