Globalization and Inequality: Challenges to Justice and Governance in Post-Industrial Welfare Economies

Abstract

In recent years, there have been a number of pistemological developments in social work. Further, there have been a number of theoretical approaches that have attempted to ground the concept of ‘power’ to understand organizational practice such as Marxist thought. At the same time, the insights of French social theorist Michel Foucault have
been captivating to the disciplinary development of social work in illuminating power relations and subject positioning between helping professions and clients. To move
beyond this, and in order to theoretically interrogate the relationship between social theory and professional power, this article draws from the neo Foucauldian-Feminist
philosopher Judith Butler – especially regarding Butler’s (1990, 1993 and 1998) powerful work on ‘performativity’. This article attempts to generate new theoretical insights to understanding contemporary social work through the conceptual tools of Butler.