1st Edition
The Routledge International Handbook of Radical Ethical Social Work
Lists of figures
List of tables
List of contributors
Acknowledgements
Section 1:
Theorizing Radical, Ethical Social Work
Chapter One – Introduction: The Ethical Radical Space in Social Work: A Kaleidoscope
Jeanette Schmid and Marina Morgenshtern
Chapter Two – Overcoming Modernity’s Moral Cacophony: Realising Social Work’s Radical, Ethical Potential through Revolutionary Aristotelianism
John G. Fox
Chapter Three – Pluriversality as a Lens for Expanding Radical, Ethical Social Work
Henry Parada in conversation with Jeanette Schmid
Chapter Four – Advancing the Radical and Ethical Core of Social Work Towards More Inclusive and Participatory Approaches to Theory Production
Caroline McGregor
Chapter Five – Centring Resistant Margins: The Courageous Critical and Radical Ethical Core
Linda Harms-Smith
Chapter Six – Re-Stor(y)ing Ethics through Kinship, Relational Accountability, and Resurgence
Giselle Dias in conversation with Jeanette Schmid
Section 2
Academic Contexts
Chapter Seven – Theory Base Guiding Canadian Social Work Educators: Foregrounding Criticality
Jeanette Schmid and Ilyan Ferrer
Chapter Eight – Undoing the Essentialized White ‘Body’ in Anti-Oppressive Social Work: A Radical Moral Imperative
June Ying Yee and Gary C. Dumbrill
Chapter Nine - Using a Radical, Ethical Social Work Lens to Understand the Tensions in Student-Educator Relationships from the Educators’ Perspective
Thalia Anderen
Chapter Ten – A Process of Radical and Ethical Collaboration on Social Work Course Redesign: Voices of South African Educators
Priscalia Khosa, Agrippa Mabvira, Kim Schmidt, Nevashnee Perumal, Najma Agherdien, Roshini Pillay, Mbongeni Sithole, Zibonele Zimba, Uwarren September and Hlologelo Malatji
Chapter Eleven – Radical, Ethical Social Work in Carceral and Fugitive Spaces: Oral Presentation
Paul Banahene Adjei
Section 3
Practical Contexts
Chapter Twelve – Pedagogical Relationships and Recognition Theory as an Expression of Radical, Ethical Social Work
Ulrike Zöller and Lisa Homberg
Chapter Thirteen – Applying a Radical Ethical Core to Co-Design Research with Currently and Formerly Incarcerated Women
Michele Jarldorn, Susannah Emery, Sophia Booij, and Katerina Bryant
Chapter Fourteen – The ‘Least Harmful Path’: Radical, Ethical Social Work in Practice Within and Around Systems of Social Control
Joanne Azevedo and Else Marie Knudsen
Chapter Fifteen – The Radical Ethical Core of Social Work – ‘If You Want to Change Outcomes for Children, Change the Way Decisions Are Made’ – Family Group Conferences and Restorative Approaches Redefining Relationships in Child Protection Practice
Paul Nixon
Chapter Sixteen – The Necropolitics of Covid-19 and Pandemic Social Work: Unsettling the Politics of Care
Paul Banahene Adjei and Donna Richards
Chapter Seventeen – Compassionate Radical Ethical Social Work: Understanding Toxic Harm in South Korea as Structural-Ecosocial Conditions of Health
Seunghoon Oh
Chapter Eighteen – Integrating Western and Traditional Notions of Health for Rural South African Women Dealing with Cervical Cancer: Is it Possible and Desirable?
Palesa Nkwadi-Kolokoto
Chapter Nineteen – Understanding Palliative Care Through a Radical, Ethical Social Work Lens
Michael Bennett
Chapter Twenty – Communities of Recovery and Their Development: Practicing the Radical and Its Ethical Core in Social Work
David P. Moxley
Chapter Twenty-one – Radical, Ethical Gerontological Social Work
Louise Stern
Chapter Twenty-two – Powerful? Powerless? Both?: The Complex Experiences of the Jewish Immigrant Men from the Former Soviet Union in Toronto
Marina Morgenshtern
Chapter Twenty-three – Challenging Heteronormativity through Groupwork with Black-Identifying Men: A Radical, Ethical Social Work Approach
Daniel Mango
Chapter Twenty-four – More Than What Meets the Eye: A Radical, Ethical Overview of Gender and Sexuality within South African Social Work
Nyasha Hillary Chibaya
Chapter Twenty-five – Structural Inequalities Facing Women in Nigeria and South Africa: A Radical Ethical Social Work Perspective
Tanusha Raniga and Rita Ezeokoli
Chapter Twenty-six – Participation and "Opportunity Justice" in the Social Sphere/Space: Social Work Between Participation and Paternalism: Who Has a Say, Who is Heard in Neighbourhood and Community Development?
Felix Baumgartner and Christian Reutlinger
Chapter Twenty-seven – Radical and Ethical Social Work Responses to Xenophobic Violence in South Africa
Agrippa Mabvira
Chapter Twenty-eight – The Future of Social Work in Times of Disasters: Towards a Multispecies Ethics
Andrea Frieda Schmelz
Chapter Twenty-nine – Untangling the Knot: Dilemmas in the Professionalization of Social Work Towards a Radical, Ethical Space
Jeanette Schmid
Chapter Thirty – Conclusion
Jeanette Schmid and Marina Morgenshtern
Biography
Jeanette Schmid is a research fellow for the Centre for Social Development in Africa, University of Johannesburg and retired Social Work Professor at Vancouver Island University. She is a seasoned social work researcher, consultant, practitioner, and educator with a strong interdisciplinary focus.
Marina Morgenshtern is an Associate Professor and Dean at Trent University Durham-GTA. She is a former chair of the Department of Social Work at Trent University.
“This volume on radical, ethical social work is most welcome. In these deeply divided times of hate‑imbued technology and politics, it is uplifting to know that social workers still cling to their ideals of human rights, social justice, and peaceful co‑existence.”
Mel Gray, PhD, Professor Emeritus, University of Newcastle, Australia, AU
“The Routledge International Handbook of Radical Ethical Social Work renews the moral and political purpose of social work for a polarized world. By bringing the radical and the ethical into a shared, evolving space, it illuminates new pathways for reflective, compassionate, inclusive, and transformative practice. This kaleidoscopic volume resists injustice while nurturing solidarity, reparation, and mutual accountability across diverse contexts. Grounded in humility, hope, and decolonial engagement, it redefines social work as a living practice of moral courage and relational responsibility—one that listens, stands alongside, and acts with dignity and care for people and the planet.”
Antoinette Lombard, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Social Work, University of Pretoria, ZA; President, International Association for Schools of Social Work (IASSW)
“This edited volume offers a thought‑provoking exploration of the complex intersections between the radical and ethical dimensions of social work.”
Nilan Yu, PhD, UniSA Justice & Society, University of South Australia, AU
