Dissenting
Social
Work
Biography
Paul Michael Garrett is an educator and writer based in Ireland. After many years of practice as a social worker, he obtained his PhD from the University of Nottingham where he lectured for five years before taking up his current post at (what is now) the University of Galway in 2004. Here he helped to set up the first social work programme in the west of Ireland and has been teaching on postgraduate and undergraduate programmes for over twenty years. Paul is a member of the Royal Irish Academy and was awarded a Higher Doctorate from the National University of Ireland in 2022 as well as an Honorary Doctorate from Ghent University, Belgium, in 2024.
Paul features among the ‘top 30 most impactful global contributors to social work journal scholarship’ (Hodge and Turner, 2023) and his substantial body of work enjoys far-reaching international recognition. He has been a keynote speaker at numerous international conferences across Europe (France, Italy, UK, Norway, Belgium and German), and a visiting professor in China (East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 2017) and the US (City University of New York, 2018). His Social Work and Social Theory (Policy Press, 2013) has been translated into Chinese and is a standard text on social work courses there.
His most recent books include: Welfare Words: Critical Social Work and Social Policy (Sage, 2018), Dissenting Social Work: Critical Theory, Resistance and Pandemic (Routledge, 2021), Social Work with the Black African Diaspora co-authored with Washington Marovatsanga (Policy Press, 2022), Social Work and Common Sense: A Critical Examination (Routledge, 2024).
This website provides a thematised summary of his interventions spanning 25 years, and hopes to be a resource for those pursuing more critical, leftist approaches to social work education and practice. Please feel free to contact Paul directly at
paulmichaelgarrett@gmail.com
What is
Dissenting Social Work?
Drawing on critical social theory and habits of self-questioning, Dissenting Social Work (DSW) is an approach that interrogates dominant ways of understanding the social world within the discipline of social work. As a leftist form of neo-social work, DSW pushes back against moves to limit the field of possibilities for educators and practitioners. In starker terms, DSW contests the idea that educators and practitioners ought to serve as mere handmaidens or functional auxiliaries of capitalism and the institutional orders that it requires. DSW, cannot be articulated along the lines of ‘blueprints’ or ‘action plans’, but it might be provisionally perceived as operating within a space patterned by, at least, a dozen themes, even commitments.
Books
Research themes
click on titles for a list of thematic interventions
List of Services
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Critical Social Theory Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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Common Sense Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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Unmarried Mothers/Mother & Baby Homes Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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Welfare Words Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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New Labour & Neoliberalism Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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Social Work & Surveillance Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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Dissenting Social Work Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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Racism, Colonialism, Decolonisation Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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Social Work & Related Themes in Ireland Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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Social Work & Irish People in Britain Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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Social Work with Children & Families/ Children in Care Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
