Abstract

Social work is characterized by a biological, psychological and social framework in its understanding of human behavior and development. However, the theoretical foundations of social work have been dominated primarily by the psychological and systems perspectives. In this paper the authors examine the essentialized, limited and uninterrograted notions of identity in these approaches. Given the current context of globalization they argue that the prevailing notions of identity and human development as represented in these theories are inadequate for depicting the complexities of the new social context. A post modern critical perspective offers a paradigm with which to respond to the rapidly changing context of the new world order and where the critiques of modernist concepts of self and identity can be incorporated while valuing social work’s commitment to social justice. They offer a set of principles which are derived from a postmodern critical perspective; and from which to establish interventions that are more culturally accessible, enabling and relevant in a multicultural society. These include: discourse analysis, consciousness raising, giving voice, sharing power, reflexivity and transformation. Finally, they consider the challenges for integrating a postmodern critical framework within social work education and practice.