Pulling the Wool off Social Work

A longstanding and slightly comical criticism of social work is that it is wooly. At times it can appear unclear and unfocused, in others it is all encompassing but overtly soft in nature – the rub being that social workers sometimes struggle to successfully address and countenance issues of harm, because we are often trying too hard to be nice. Continue reading

The Psychology of Otherness, Outsiders, and Enemies.

Media outlets (reporting news or social broadcasts) are dominated by stories relating to otherness; whether it be racism, war, misogyny, mass shooting, political divides, or social justice issues — the action/inaction dynamic of such reporting — being that a story dominates the news cycle then fades — appears like an off-beat pendulum of a clock that will never truly tell us what time it is. The times are changing, they are always in flux, but we might not see a true advancement of that change-potential unless we consider how the psychology of dehumanizing our fellows may just keep us stagnant. Continue reading