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BJSW Advance Access published online on October 18, 2006
British Journal of Social Work, doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcl336
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved

Article

‘Anti-Oppressiveness’: Critical Comments on a Discourse and its Context

Malcolm Millar 1 *

1 Lecturer in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Liverpool, School of Sociology and Social Policy, Eleanor Rathbone Building, Bedford Street South, Liverpool L69 7ZA, UK

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Malcolm Millar, E-mail: m.millar{at}liv.ac.uk


  Abstract

This paper identifies and aims to explain an apparent dissonance between the dominance in Britain of ‘anti-oppressive’ social work discourse and the socio-political context surrounding its use; a context often claimed to feature excessive regulation and control. Pursuing this, some politically radical aims associated with ‘anti-oppressiveness’ are spelt out, and the difficulty of achieving these in an unconducive climate is discussed. Then, a distinction made by Robert Merton between ‘latent’ and ‘manifest’ functions is used to suggest that the manifest radicalism of ‘anti-oppressive’ discourse can helpfully be distinguished from some latent largely unrecognised consequences of its use - not consequences with politically radical impact, but with a social meaning congruent with a climate of control. It is concluded that the ‘success’ of anti-oppressive discourse might well be viewed as requiring more of the kind of critical analysis that the discourse itself was supposed to espouse.

Keywords: anti-oppressive, discourse, social work.
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