Social Work in Times of Neoliberalism - a Post-Modern Discourse

In social work in times of neoliberalism - a postmodern discourse, the authors use the methodology of critical discourse analysis to discern the way in which three discourses - that of professional social work, and those of managerialism and the market - interact in a specific microcontext, that is, welfare in post-apartheid South Africa. Tracing the social, political, economic and ideological factors that have impacted the development of social work from both a global and a local perspective, the authors identify the historical and contemporary conflicting and competing strands and epistemological positions in social work. Of particular relevance is the unpacking of the influence of these on the self-conceptualisation of social work. They conclude with arguments for developing local resistance to the effects of globalisation and propose alternative postmodernist emancipatory discourses for social welfare and social work.