ERIC Number: EJ1464433
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0884-1233
EISSN: EISSN-1540-7349
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Enhancing Human Well-Being through Social Work Research: Is Postmodern/Critical Theory Undermining the Profession's Science Pedagogy?
Journal of Teaching in Social Work, v45 n2 p336-347 2025
Science plays an important, if not central role, in the profession's mission of enhancing human well-being. The benefits that flow from science do not emerge in a vacuum, but rather are contingent upon the existence of a specific value-based milieu. Included among these values are an academic discourse that: 1) supports the free expression of ideas, 2) cultivates the inclusion of diverse perspectives, 3) privileges the use of logic and reason, and 4) and acknowledges the importance of data or empirical evidence. Certain streams of thought within Postmodern/Critical Theory challenge all four concepts which, in turn, threaten to undermine the profession's science pedagogy. The paper concludes by offering some pedagogical suggestions for retaining science as a method to enhance well-being in social work.
Descriptors: Social Work, Research, Well Being, Professional Education, Science Instruction, Postmodernism, Critical Theory, Social Values, Academic Language, Freedom of Speech, Intellectual Freedom, Personal Autonomy, Logical Thinking, Thinking Skills, Data, Evidence, Humanization
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1School of Social Work, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA; 2Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, PA, USA