Pandemic possibilities: confronting neoliberalism in social work education

Beyond “Glittering Hope”: Introducing Max Stirner’s Unique Possibilities to Social Work

“…Some scholars of social work have long put forth their concerns about the encroachment, and now hegemony, of neoliberalism within social work (Abramovitz & Zelnick, 2015;Garrett, 2010;Harris, 2014;Heron, 2019;Pollack & Rossiter, 2010;Resich, 2013;Wallace & Pease, 2011). It has rightly been noted that neoliberalism is a pervasive ideology within social work, guiding social work practices (Hendrix, Barusch, and Gringeri, 2021;Rossiter & Heron, 2011), policy (Spolander, Engelbrecht, & Pullen Sansfaçon, 2016), research (Wahab, Mehrotra, & Meyers, 2022), and education (Cherry, Leotti, Panichelli, & Wahab, 2021;Garrett, 2010;Morley, Macfarlane, & Ablett, 2017). In response to neoliberalism's ubiquity within social work, some feminist, BIPOC, critical, and postmodern social work scholars have introduced counternarratives that challenge its hegemony.…”

“…In response to neoliberalism's ubiquity within social work, some feminist, BIPOC, critical, and postmodern social work scholars have introduced counternarratives that challenge its hegemony. For example, some have theorized and documented practices of resistance -both epistemological and practical -that center collective, structural, and intersectional forms of social work (Cherry, Leotti, Panichelli, & Wahab, 2021;Heron, 2005 Rugged individualism is one of the United State's foundational stories, and is premised upon the discourses of self-reliance, productivity, personal responsibility, and independent choice. These discourses have necessitated American capitalism and subsequently neoliberalism and are pervasive across institutional and social contexts.…”