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BJSW Advance Access published online on April 22, 2009
British Journal of Social Work, doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcp044
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved

Recognizing the Limitations of the Political Theory of Recognition: Axel Honneth, Nancy Fraser and Social Work

Paul Michael Garrett

Paul Michael Garrett is the Director of Social Work at the National University of Ireland in Galway, the Republic of Ireland. He is the author of Remaking Social Work with Children and Families (Routledge, 2003) and Social Work with Irish Children and Families in Britain (Policy Press, 2004). His work has also appeared in academic journals across a range of disciplines. For a number of years, he has been a member of the editorial collective of Critical Social Policy (where he is the Editor of the Reviews Section). He is also a member of the editorial board of the European Journal of Social Work and is consulting editor for the US-based Journal of Progressive Human Services.

Correspondence to Dr Paul Michael Garrett, Senior Lecturer and Director of Social Work, Department of Political Science and Sociology, National University of Ireland, Aras Moyola, Galway, Republic of Ireland. E-mail: PM.Garrett{at}nuigalway.ie


  Abstract

A number of writers, located within the field of social work, have suggested that the ethics and politics of recognition provide a body of theorization that can assist social workers in their day-to-day encounters with the users of social services. However, within social and political theory, the literature on recognition has generated a rich and complex critical literature, which, to date, has been neglected within this emerging social work discourse on the theme. This article, therefore, will seek to extend the existing theoretical parameters by drawing attention to some of the contemporary critiques directed at recognition theorists. In this context, it will be maintained that the contributions of Axel Honneth, whose theorization is being promoted with social work, is problematic because it is prone to what is termed ‘psychologization’. In contrast, the feminist theorist, Nancy Fraser, has provided a more convincing articulation of recognition that also gels, in part, with the more persuasive accounts of the multifaceted nature of oppression and subjugation present in the discourse of social work. In conclusion, however, it will be maintained that recognition theory, tending to focus too exclusively on micro encounters and interactions, pays insufficient attention to the role of the neo-liberal state.

Keywords: Theory, psychologicalization, perspectival dualism, the state


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