Lena Dominelli

Bio: Lena Dominelli is an academic researcher from University of Stirling. The author has contributed to research in topics: Social work & Social change. The author has an hindex of 40, co-authored 160 publications receiving 5634 citations. Previous affiliations of Lena Dominelli include University of Warwick & University of Victoria.

Anti-oppressive social work theory and practice

Abstract: This book, by one of the leading theorists of social work, tackles a subject of crucial importance to students and practitioners alike: how social workers can enable their clients to challenge and transcend the manifold oppressions that disempower them (whether through poverty, disability, mental illness, etc.). It moves from a discussion of social work's purpose and ambitions to an exposition of theory and, from there, to the practice arenas of working with individuals, in groups, within organisations, and within a wider social and political context.

Social Work : Theory and Practice for a Changing Profession

Abstract: Social work is facing fundamental changes and challenges. Neo-liberalism, globalization, corporate management and the mixed economy of welfare have transformed the profession by undermining former certainties of practice. 'Clients' have added their own voice to the need for new models of service delivery. Social Work engages with the dilemmas and opportunities emanating from the contested nature of practice. Using a broad range of theories, this book outlines the knowledge, skills and values that enable practitioners to respond more effectively to the demands of working in fluid and constantly changing contexts. Underpining the approach that it takes is the idea that 'clients' are citizens with social and human rights which have to be respected. This provides the intellectual basis for a practice rooted in the ideas of citizenship, solidarity and reciprocity, thus reformulating the relationship between 'clients' and society.This important new textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to the dilemmas and tensions that practitioners are compelled to resolve in their daily work. It will be invaluable for students taking courses in social work, social welfare and applied sociology as well as nursing and health professionals, social work practitioners and policymakers.

Feminist Social Work Theory and Practice

Abstract: Feminist theories of social work have been criticised in recent years for treating women as a uniform category and displaying insufficient sensitivity to the complex ways in which other social divisions (those of race, age, disability, etc.) impact on gender relations. This major text by a leading writer in the field seeks to develop a new framework for feminist social work that takes on board postmodernist arguments to do with difference and power yet retains a commitment to collective solidarity and social change. As such, it will be essential reading for students, educators and practitioners alike in social work.

Postmodern Subjects, Postmodern BodiesThinking Fragments: Psychoanalysis, Feminism, and Postmodernism in the Contemporary WestYearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural PoliticsGender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity

Abstract: Preface (1999) Preface (1990) 1. Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire I. 'Women' as the Subject of Feminism II. The Compulsory Order of Sex/Gender/Desire III. Gender: The Circular Ruins of Contemporary Debate IV. Theorizing the Binary, the Unitary and Beyond V. Identity, Sex and the Metaphysics of Substance VI. Language, Power and the Strategies of Displacement 2. Prohibition, Psychoanalysis, and the Production of the Heterosexual Matrix I. Structuralism's Critical Exchange II. Lacan, Riviere, and the Strategies of Masquerade III. Freud and the Melancholia of Gender IV. Gender Complexity and the Limits of Identification V. Reformulating Prohibition as Power 3. Subversive Bodily Acts I. The Body Politics of Julia Kristeva II. Foucault, Herculine, and the Politics of Sexual Discontinuity III. Monique Wittig - Bodily Disintegration and Fictive Sex IV. Bodily Inscriptions, Performative Subversions Conclusion - From Parody to Politics