Anti-oppressive practice theory : Building social justice social work

[Extract] ...AOP is an umbrella term for a number of the social justice-oriented theories noted above, including feminist, Marxist, intersectional, critical postmodernist, Indigenous, critical poststructuralist, queer, critical constructionist, anti-colonial, disability rights and anti-racist theories (Brown 2012; Dominelli and Campling 2002; Kennedy-Kish, Sinclair, Carniol and Baines 2017). Broadly speaking, anti-oppressive social workers try to provide service to people, but simultaneously they seek to help service users, communities and themselves to understand that the problems service users encounter are linked to social inequality, as well as the sources of that inequality and oppression and how to fight for change (Barnoff and Moffatt 2007; Sakamoto and Pitner 2005). AOP does not claim to be an exclusive and authoritative model containing every answer to every social problem. Instead, consistent with its emancipatory heritage, AOP is a set of politicized practices that remains open to changing social conditions and challenges, and continually evolves to meet shifting social dynamics. AOP practitioners work within social service agencies to make positive changes while maintaining ties outside the agency with social change organizations, unions, social movements and other groups committed to social justice (Barnoff and Moffatt 2007; Ross 2017).