Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9378 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

British Journal of Social Work
'Undoubtedly, Anti-Discriminatory Practice remains an important text for us all.'

Synopsis
This successful textbook has been thoroughly updated to include new debates and developments in the theory and practice of anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive social work, including discussion of language, the diversity approach and misinterpretations of PCS analysis. References, reading lists and recommended websites are all carefully revised. This fourth edition continues to offer support, guidance and insight on a complex subject and is an ideal starting point or refresher for students, practitioners and managers alike.

From the Publisher
toc
Contents: Preface to the First Edition - Preface to the Second Edition - Acknowledgements - Introduction - The Theory Base - Gender and Sexism - Ethnicity and Racism - Ageism and Alienation - Disability and Social Handicap - Other Sources of Oppression - Conclusion - Bibliography - Index

Customer Reviews

This is only a place to start
If seriously considering anti-oppressive or discriminatory practice, perhaps it should have been called an introduction to anti-oppressive or discriminatory practices.

As a result I dont believe that criticisms of epistemological analysis and comparisons with A level sociology are fair, infact I think they indicate the sympathies of the previous reviewer and sociology has really moved on from the epistemological discussions and philosophical debates of Hobbes, Locke et al.

I would say that there are much more interesting and illustrative examples of discrimination, power and oppression in James C Scott's Domination and the Arts of Resistance, however Thompson's model of oppression occuring at the personal, cultural and structural levels should be a spur to further thinking and investigation.

I have only given it three stars since it can only really serve as an introduction to the topic, its written, in the style of the staple of social work practitioner texts, which is less than compelling, has little or no narrative style and reads a lot like DVD player instructions or the continually circulating body of knowledge in all the paper exercises social services training units have invented.

It doesnt tackle the issues of discrimination or oppression of professionals contra other professionals or agencies, which David Howe did in an earlier book which may be out of print now, it does make it appear like oppression is easily defeated and doesnt at all have the health warning that this sort of thing really ought to be accompanied with.

Not entirely an anti- discriminatory view.
As a social work student I thought that this book would look at examples that occurr everyday when trying to work in an anti-discriminatory way. Unfortunately I did not feel that the book gave any other view than to assume that the social worker will always be the one who discriminates and the examples used became one sided and repetitive. I actually challenge this view with the book - as anyone will know, discrimination cuts both ways. Although a solution may never be reached, what about when users discriminate against each other and towards you, what would be the best way to practice then? After several pages I actually felt that the book was more brain-washing rather than giving some though provoking healthy suggestions for practice.

Not enough depth
As a first year student we were recommended this book to complete our first assignments. I felt it gave a basic overview of the whole concept and I was not left satisfied. For example the PCS model was explained, however I found I kept going back to the book to try and gain more knowledge on the whole concept of Anti-Discriminatory Practice-that, simply, wasnt there! I feel this book could have been better if it had explored the more in depth concepts behind Anti Discriminatory Practice, althogether it was too general.