Social work theory · Volume D: Critical, Structural & Emancipatory

Anti-oppressive, anti-racist and decolonial theories

Anti-oppressive, anti-racist and decolonial theories explain how oppression based on race, colonisation, gender, class, disability, sexuality and other social divisions is produced and maintained, and they guide practice that challenges it.

1. What it is

Anti-oppressive, anti-racist and decolonial theories explain how oppression based on race, colonisation, gender, class, disability, sexuality and other social divisions is produced and maintained, and they guide practice that challenges it. They share the view that oppression operates at personal, cultural and structural levels and that social work can either reinforce or resist it (Dominelli, 2002; Mullaly, 2010). Decolonial theory and Indigenous knowledge frameworks add a further dimension: they question the colonial foundations of social work knowledge itself. In Australia, where social workers took part in the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission [HREOC], 1997), these theories are central to ethical practice (AASW, 2020).

Anti-oppressive practice (Dominelli; Thompson’s PCS model). Anti-oppressive practice (AOP) is a framework that applies critical analysis of power to every level of social work. Dominelli (2002) defined it as practice that addresses social divisions and structural inequalities in the work done with service users and colleagues, and that aims to provide more appropriate and sensitive services. It emphasises reflexivity, partnership, empowerment and attention to how agencies and workers may reproduce oppression. Thompson’s (2016) PCS model is a widely used analytic tool. It describes discrimination operating at three interlocking levels: personal (P: individual thoughts, feelings and actions), cultural (C: shared values, norms and assumptions) and structural (S: social divisions and institutional power). Each level is embedded in the next, so change at the personal level alone is insufficient.

Anti-racist social work. Anti-racist social work identifies racism as a system of power that disadvantages racialised groups, and it requires workers to challenge racism actively in themselves, agencies and policy. Dominelli’s (2008) Anti-Racist Social Work argued that “colour-blind” approaches allow institutional racism to persist, and that white workers must examine their own position. Australian scholars have shown that the profession’s knowledge base, workforce and practices remain shaped by whiteness, which affects how Aboriginal and culturally diverse clients are assessed and served (Walter et al., 2011).

Critical race theory. Critical race theory (CRT) emerged in US legal scholarship in the 1970s and 1980s, led by Derrick Bell, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Richard Delgado and others (Crenshaw et al., 1995). It holds that racism is ordinary: a normal, embedded feature of law and institutions. Key ideas include interest convergence (racial progress occurs when it serves white interests), the social construction of race, and counter-storytelling, which centres the experiences of people of colour (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017). Moreton-Robinson (2015) developed a related analysis of “white possession” in Australia, showing how the nation’s sovereignty and property relations rest on the dispossession of Indigenous peoples.

Intersectionality (Kimberlé Crenshaw). Intersectionality is a framework for analysing how systems of power such as race, gender, class and disability interact to produce distinct experiences of disadvantage. Crenshaw (1989) introduced the term to show how anti-discrimination law, which treated race and sex separately, failed Black women whose experiences arose from their combination. Crenshaw (1991) later applied it to violence against women of colour, showing how services designed around single categories excluded them. Intersectionality analyses interlocking structures of power and their combined effects on people’s lives. It has become central to social work assessment and policy analysis (Mullaly, 2010).

Postcolonial theory. Postcolonial theory analyses the cultural, psychological and political legacies of European colonialism. Fanon (1961/2004) examined colonial violence and its psychological effects on the colonised. Said (1978) showed how Western scholarship constructed “the Orient” as inferior and exotic, a discourse that served imperial power. Spivak (1988) asked whether subaltern groups can be heard within dominant systems of representation, and Bhabha (1994) theorised hybridity in colonial encounters. For social work, postcolonial theory exposes how Western models of family, welfare and wellbeing were exported and imposed through colonial and international practice (Gray et al., 2008).

Decolonial theory. Decolonial theory, developed mainly by Latin American scholars, argues that colonialism did not end with formal independence. Quijano (2000) described the “coloniality of power”: a continuing global hierarchy of race, labour and knowledge established through colonisation. Mignolo and Walsh (2018) emphasise epistemic decolonisation, the recognition of knowledge systems marginalised by Eurocentric science. Tuck and Yang (2012) argue that decolonisation requires the return of land and sovereignty to Indigenous peoples and should not be reduced to a metaphor for any social justice project. In social work, decolonising practice involves questioning the profession’s colonial history and centring Indigenous self-determination (Gray et al., 2013).

Indigenous and First Nations knowledge frameworks. Indigenous knowledges are knowledge traditions in their own right, with their own ontologies (ways of being), epistemologies (ways of knowing) and axiologies (values). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledges are relational: they understand people as connected to Country, kin, community, culture, ancestors and spirit (Dudgeon et al., 2014; Martin, 2008). Social and emotional wellbeing is understood through these connections. Smith (2012) showed how Western research has been a tool of colonisation and set out principles for Indigenous-led research. In Australian social work, Aboriginal scholars have articulated practice grounded in Aboriginal worldviews, history, relationality and self-determination (Bennett & Green, 2019). Gray et al. (2008) document Indigenous social work across many countries, showing that Indigenous peoples develop their own models of helping and healing. These frameworks are authoritative within their own terms and do not need validation from Western theory.

2. Historical development

These theories grew from social movements: anti-colonial struggles, civil rights, Black feminism and Indigenous rights movements. They drew on Marxist (D1), critical (D2) and feminist (D3) theory but became independent because they named race, colonisation and multiple, intersecting oppressions as central. Indigenous knowledge frameworks have a different origin: they are continuous traditions, tens of thousands of years old in Australia, that predate and exist independently of Western theory.

AOP entered social work in Britain in the late 1980s and 1990s, partly through social work education requirements, and it spread to Canada and Australia (Dominelli, 2002). In Australia, the Bringing Them Home report (HREOC, 1997) prompted the profession to confront its role in child removal. Aboriginal scholars have since led the development of Aboriginal social work theory and education (Bennett & Green, 2019).

3. Practical guidance

These theories guide workers to analyse power at every level and to support self-determination.

• Use the PCS model in assessment. Examine how personal attitudes, cultural norms and structural barriers each contribute to a client’s situation (Thompson, 2016).
• Examine your own position. Reflect on how your race, class, gender and other identities shape your assumptions and the power you hold. White workers should consider how whiteness operates in practice (Walter et al., 2011).
• Apply an intersectional analysis. Consider how combined forms of disadvantage, such as being an Aboriginal woman with disability, create needs that single-category services may miss (Crenshaw, 1991).
• Support Aboriginal self-determination. Work with Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations, follow community protocols, and apply the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle in child protection.
• Respect Indigenous knowledges. Learn about local Country, history and kinship, and recognise that cultural connection is a source of wellbeing and healing (Dudgeon et al., 2014).
• Challenge institutional racism. Question policies, assessment tools and practices that produce unequal outcomes, and document and report discriminatory practices.

4. Critical evaluation

Strengths. These theories give social work a comprehensive analysis of oppression and a practical commitment to challenging it. Intersectionality has improved understanding of complex disadvantage. Decolonial and Indigenous frameworks have made the profession confront its colonial history and have strengthened Aboriginal leadership in practice and education.

Limitations. AOP has been criticised as a broad, sometimes vague umbrella that can become a checklist of identities or a professional orthodoxy (Healy, 2014). The terms can be adopted in agency language without changing practice or power. Decolonial scholars warn that “decolonisation” is sometimes used loosely, without attention to land and sovereignty (Tuck & Yang, 2012). There is also a risk that non-Indigenous workers appropriate Indigenous knowledges or treat them as a cultural add-on.

Overall importance. Anti-oppressive, anti-racist and decolonial theories are among the most influential frameworks in contemporary social work. In Australia, they are reflected in the AASW Code of Ethics (2020) and education standards. Indigenous knowledge frameworks hold particular importance, both as knowledge systems in their own right and as the basis for practice with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

5. References

• Australian Association of Social Workers. (2020). Code of ethics. AASW.
• Bennett, B., & Green, S. (Eds.). (2019). Our voices: Aboriginal social work (2nd ed.). Red Globe Press.
• Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The location of culture. Routledge.
• Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1989(1), 139–167.
• Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241–1299. https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039
• Crenshaw, K., Gotanda, N., Peller, G., & Thomas, K. (Eds.). (1995). Critical race theory: The key writings that formed the movement. The New Press.
• Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2017). Critical race theory: An introduction (3rd ed.). New York University Press.
• Dominelli, L. (2002). Anti-oppressive social work theory and practice. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Dominelli, L. (2008). Anti-racist social work (3rd ed.). Palgrave Macmillan.
• Dudgeon, P., Milroy, H., & Walker, R. (Eds.). (2014). Working together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and wellbeing principles and practice (2nd ed.). Commonwealth of Australia.
• Fanon, F. (2004). The wretched of the earth (R. Philcox, Trans.). Grove Press. (Original work published 1961)
• Gray, M., Coates, J., & Yellow Bird, M. (Eds.). (2008). Indigenous social work around the world: Towards culturally relevant education and practice. Ashgate.
• Gray, M., Coates, J., Yellow Bird, M., & Hetherington, T. (Eds.). (2013). Decolonizing social work. Ashgate.
• Healy, K. (2014). Social work theories in context: Creating frameworks for practice (2nd ed.). Palgrave Macmillan.
• Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. (1997). Bringing them home: Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families. Commonwealth of Australia.
• Martin, K. L. (2008). Please knock before you enter: Aboriginal regulation of outsiders and the implications for researchers. Post Pressed.
• Mignolo, W. D., & Walsh, C. E. (2018). On decoloniality: Concepts, analytics, praxis. Duke University Press.
• Moreton-Robinson, A. (2015). The white possessive: Property, power, and Indigenous sovereignty. University of Minnesota Press.
• Mullaly, B. (2010). Challenging oppression and confronting privilege (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
• Quijano, A. (2000). Coloniality of power, Eurocentrism, and Latin America. Nepantla: Views from South, 1(3), 533–580.
• Said, E. W. (1978). Orientalism. Pantheon Books.
• Smith, L. T. (2012). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and Indigenous peoples (2nd ed.). Zed Books.
• Spivak, G. C. (1988). Can the subaltern speak? In C. Nelson & L. Grossberg (Eds.), Marxism and the interpretation of culture (pp. 271–313). University of Illinois Press.
• Thompson, N. (2016). Anti-discriminatory practice (6th ed.). Palgrave.
• Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 1(1), 1–40.
• Walter, M., Taylor, S., & Habibis, D. (2011). How white is social work in Australia? Australian Social Work, 64(1), 6–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2010.510892