**Apologies for cross-posting**

New title from The Policy Press

‘Social work and social theory: Making connections’ by Paul Michael Garrett

Paperback ISBN:    978-1-84742-960-5	   £23.99
Hardback ISBN:	 978-1-84742-961-2   £60.00

Available at 20% discount from www.policypress.co.uk

"Paul Michael Garrett's Social Work and Social Theory is a wonderfully rich reflection on the uses of social theory to critically contextualize social work practice. Drawing on a wide range of contemporary theorists, the book insightfully shows that theory can help social workers rethink the commonly accepted understandings of their roles and responsibilities today." Sanford Schram, Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research

"This book fills a gap in the increasingly a-theoretical literature of social work.  It provides clear and incisive analyses of major critical theorists and demonstrates how their work can shape progressive practice." Michael Reisch, Daniel Thursz Distinguished Professor of Social Justice, University of Maryland


In order to work effectively, social workers need to understand theoretical concepts and develop critical theory. In this unique book, Paul Michael Garrett seeks to bring the profession into the orbit of the anti-capitalist movement and encourages a new engagement with theorists, rarely explored in social work, such as Antonio Gramsci, Pierre Bourdieu and Nancy Fraser. 

The book also provides brief, insightful introductions to other important thinkers such as Antonio Negri, Alain Badiou, Luc Boltanski and Ève Chiapello. It provides an accessible and exhilarating introduction for practitioners, students, social work academics and other readers interested in social theory and critical social policy. 

The book will be a vital resource aiding those intent on creating a new, more radical, social work. It will also be a useful teaching tool to spark lively classroom discussion.


Paul Michael Garrett is a senior lecturer at the National University of Ireland in Galway. Previously, he was a social worker involved in community-based campaigns focused on homelessness, welfare rights, trade union rights and poverty. He is the author of several books and articles examining social work during the period of neoliberalisation. He is also a member of the editorial boards of Critical Social Policy and the European Journal of Social Work.