Iain Ferguson
Biographic Data
| ID | 184052 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Iain Ferguson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Iain |
| FAMILY NAME | Ferguson |
| SIGNATURE | FERGUSON I |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of the West of Scotland |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2442-3580 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 33 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 221 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 32 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
The problem of a world state
This paper represents an existing critique of Alexander Wendt’s theory of a ‘world state’ and invites responses to a new international theory. The argument is that Wendt’s account of the global identity formation of a ‘world state’ is paradoxical. It depicts the most authoritative agents in international politics as cyphers of a structural change that is one-sided and ultimately unifying rather than, as he implies, mutually constituted and define…
Social Work and Common Sense
Reluctance in world politics
The civil condition in world politics
Journal Article The civil condition in world politics: beyond tragedy and utopianism Get access The civil condition in world politics: beyond tragedy and utopianism. Edited by Vassilos Paipais. Bristol: Bristol University Press. 2022. 264pp. £85.00. Isbn978 1 52922 417 7. Available as e-book. Iain Ferguson Iain Ferguson HSE (Higher School of Economics) University, Russia Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Int…
The Politics of Russian Revisionism
Russia’s use of force in Ukraine has been described as a challenge to the rule of international law and an event of unilateral intervention. This paper provides a reinterpretation of this standard history of Russian revisionism. Our new history places this practice in a global governance context through an analysis of the politics concerning the international legal norm of ‘non-intervention’ and its legitimate/illegitimate exceptions for collecti…
Brazil
The election of Jair Bolsonaro as President of Brazil on 28 October 2018 sent shock waves across the world. Bolsonaro is a retired army officer and Far Right politician who has made clear his admiration for the brutal military junta that ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985. Iain Ferguson interviewed Brazilian social work academic Maria Lucia Garcia about the reasons for Bolsonaro’s victory and what it will mean for Brazilian social work
Making Sense of Madness
The 1960s saw a challenge to the dominant ideas not only in areas such as women’s oppression and the position of black people, but also in relation to mental health. A central figure, perhaps the central figure, in these debates around mental health and ‘mental illness’ was the Scottish psychiatrist and psychoanalyst R.D. Laing. This article aims to provide an outline of Laing’s key ideas and activities, and to assess the extent to which these id…
Marx
This article offers an outline of Marx’s concept of alienation and his later related concept of commodity fetishism. Building on previously published work on this topic, we argue that the lack of control over our lives and creative activity that, for Marx, defined alienation and that he saw as being more extreme under capitalism than under any previous mode of production has actually intensified during the era of neoliberalism. Through an examina…
The Year of the Barricades
Marx at 200
Between New Spheres of Influence
Contrary to the popular narrative of ‘return’, the spheres of influence that have destabilized Ukraine are not a throwback to the nineteenth century. They are something new. What makes them new is explained here in a story of a failed experiment to escape geopolitics in a region between the borders of an enlarged European Union (EU) and Russia. This project created a ‘grey zone’ of overlapping authority, jurisdiction and allegiance out of which n…
Introduction
In March 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, relations between Moscow and the West descended into their deepest crisis since the end of the Cold War. For the rest of that year and into the next, the
War
Hope over fear
Prediction of possible futures is fraught with dangers. Neither the global economic crisis which erupted in 2008 nor the political earthquake which shook Scotland over the issue of independence during 2014 was foreseen by many commentators, if indeed any. Given these experiences, predicting where social work education might be in 2025 is a potentially hazardous enterprise. Nevertheless, the recent resurgence of interest in utopian thinking reflec…
Greece and Britain
Introduction
Critical and radical social work
Crisis, austerity and the future(s) of social work in the UK
In response to the current global crisis of capitalism, the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government in the United Kingdom has imposed a policy of ‘austerity’, which seeks to shift the costs of that crisis onto the poorest sections of the population while seeking also to undermine the post-war welfare settlement. This article will explore the implications of that restructuring of welfare for social work. Even before the onset of the cri…
De la modernización a la "Gran Sociedad"
En el desarrollo del Trabajo Social en el Reino Unido, Harris y White identifican características comunes del neoliberalismo en el mismo bajo los gobiernos conservadores y laboristas (el nuevo laborismo), como son: la subcontratación de los servicios del sector público a las organizaciones privadas y voluntarias, la aplicación de valores y prioridades del sector privado a las organizaciones del sector público, sobre todo las tres «es»: economía, …
Education for Change
The past few years have seen renewed interest in the radical social work tradition both in Britain and internationally in response to the highly negative impact of neo-liberal policies on people's lives and on the profession itself. While these perspectives are now beginning to be included within social work academic curricula, less consideration has been given within the international literature as to how they might also inform practice placemen…
"Um Outro Serviço Social é Possível" Reivindicando a Tradição Radical
Radical social work in practice
Where's the beef? A response to Gray and Webb's ‘The return of the political in social work’
Gray and Webb's article ‘The return of the political in social work’ is a welcome contribution to current debates. In its critique of the dominance of calculative reason, its rejection of postmodernism and identity politics, and its insistence on the need for social work to openly address issues of power and conflict, it is a useful addition to the growing critical literature concerned with challenging dominant forms of practice. That usefulness …
Asylum policy and asylum experiences
The research focus on asylum seeking has tended to emphasize state and international level processes, with little attention paid to sub-national and local level process, which can influence policy implementation. Drawing on research conducted in devolved Scotland, the paper considers how contradictions and tensions are played out at service agency, community and individual levels and how these fundamentally affect local experiences, as well as il…
Reclaiming Social Work
A Profession worth Fighting For? Neo-Liberal Britain New Labour, New Social Work The Market and Social Care Consumerism, Personalisation and Social Welfare Movements The Radical Tradition Critical Social Work Issues and Debates Challenging the Consensus
Increasing User Choice or Privatizing Risk? The Antinomies of Personalization
Within a very short space of time, the concept of personalization has come to occupy a central place within dominant social work and adult care discourses within the UK. Through an analysis of one influential model of personalization, this paper will explore the factors behind the concept’s current popularity. I shall argue that this popularity is due primarily to its congruence with key themes of New Labour thought, including individualization, …
Globalization and global justice
English The transformation of the social work role through the imposition of neo-liberal policies is creating widespread dissatisfaction. This article identifies some bases for resistance to these policies and discusses their potential for informing a new paradigm, based on a rejection of neoliberalism in social work. French L'application des politiques néo-libérales transforme le rôle du travail social, ce qui suscite une insatisfaction générali…
Beyond Power Discourse
Journal Article Beyond Power Discourse: Alienation and Social Work Get access Iain Ferguson, Iain Ferguson Correspondence to Michael Lavalette, Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work Studies, University of Liverpool, Eleanor Rathbone Building, Bedford Street South, Liverpool. E-mail: [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Michael Lavalette Michael Lavalette Search for o…
Asylum policy and asylum experiences
The research focus on asylum seeking has tended to emphasize state and international level processes, with little attention paid to sub-national and local level process, which can influence policy implementation. Drawing on research conducted in devolved Scotland, the paper considers how contradictions and tensions are played out at service agency, community and individual levels and how these fundamentally affect local experiences, as well as il…
Crisis, austerity and the future(s) of social work in the UK
In response to the current global crisis of capitalism, the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government in the United Kingdom has imposed a policy of ‘austerity’, which seeks to shift the costs of that crisis onto the poorest sections of the population while seeking also to undermine the post-war welfare settlement. This article will explore the implications of that restructuring of welfare for social work. Even before the onset of the cri…
Democratic language and neo-liberal practice
English Social workers need to be wary of an uncritical acceptance of the concept of civil society. Despite its democratic veneer it is being utilized by international financial institutions and governments as a cover for privatizing health and welfare services both in the South and in much of the North. French Les travailleurs sociaux doivent se montrer prudents envers l’acception non critique de la notion de socié té civile. En dé pit de son ve…
Hope over fear
Prediction of possible futures is fraught with dangers. Neither the global economic crisis which erupted in 2008 nor the political earthquake which shook Scotland over the issue of independence during 2014 was foreseen by many commentators, if indeed any. Given these experiences, predicting where social work education might be in 2025 is a potentially hazardous enterprise. Nevertheless, the recent resurgence of interest in utopian thinking reflec…
Critical and radical social work
Between New Spheres of Influence
Contrary to the popular narrative of ‘return’, the spheres of influence that have destabilized Ukraine are not a throwback to the nineteenth century. They are something new. What makes them new is explained here in a story of a failed experiment to escape geopolitics in a region between the borders of an enlarged European Union (EU) and Russia. This project created a ‘grey zone’ of overlapping authority, jurisdiction and allegiance out of which n…
Introduction
In March 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, relations between Moscow and the West descended into their deepest crisis since the end of the Cold War. For the rest of that year and into the next, the
It is a horrible term for someone’
This paper presents findings from a study exploring the views of people with personality disorder diagnoses and various professionals working with them. After outlining the policy context and the study's conceptual framework, the aims and methods are described. Interviews were conducted with 12 service providers and 10 users. The main findings are then discussed, including user and provider perspectives on the meaning of 'personality disorder' an…
Marx
This article offers an outline of Marx’s concept of alienation and his later related concept of commodity fetishism. Building on previously published work on this topic, we argue that the lack of control over our lives and creative activity that, for Marx, defined alienation and that he saw as being more extreme under capitalism than under any previous mode of production has actually intensified during the era of neoliberalism. Through an examina…
Marx at 200
Education for Change
The past few years have seen renewed interest in the radical social work tradition both in Britain and internationally in response to the highly negative impact of neo-liberal policies on people's lives and on the profession itself. While these perspectives are now beginning to be included within social work academic curricula, less consideration has been given within the international literature as to how they might also inform practice placemen…
"Um Outro Serviço Social é Possível" Reivindicando a Tradição Radical
Where's the beef? A response to Gray and Webb's ‘The return of the political in social work’
Gray and Webb's article ‘The return of the political in social work’ is a welcome contribution to current debates. In its critique of the dominance of calculative reason, its rejection of postmodernism and identity politics, and its insistence on the need for social work to openly address issues of power and conflict, it is a useful addition to the growing critical literature concerned with challenging dominant forms of practice. That usefulness …
Reluctance in world politics
Brazil
The election of Jair Bolsonaro as President of Brazil on 28 October 2018 sent shock waves across the world. Bolsonaro is a retired army officer and Far Right politician who has made clear his admiration for the brutal military junta that ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985. Iain Ferguson interviewed Brazilian social work academic Maria Lucia Garcia about the reasons for Bolsonaro’s victory and what it will mean for Brazilian social work
Rethinking Welfare
The anti-capitalist movement is increasingly challenging the global hegemony of neo-liberalism. The arguments against the neo-liberal agenda are clearly articulated in Rethinking Welfare. The authors highlight the growing inequalities and decimation of state welfare, and use Marxist approaches to contemporary social policy to provide a defence of the welfare state. \n \nDivided into three main sections, the first part of this volume looks at the …
Beyond Power Discourse
Journal Article Beyond Power Discourse: Alienation and Social Work Get access Iain Ferguson, Iain Ferguson Correspondence to Michael Lavalette, Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work Studies, University of Liverpool, Eleanor Rathbone Building, Bedford Street South, Liverpool. E-mail: [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Michael Lavalette Michael Lavalette Search for o…
Globalisation, Global Justice and Social Work
It is a horrible term for someone’
This paper presents findings from a study exploring the views of people with personality disorder diagnoses and various professionals working with them. After outlining the policy context and the study's conceptual framework, the aims and methods are described. Interviews were conducted with 12 service providers and 10 users. The main findings are then discussed, including user and provider perspectives on the meaning of 'personality disorder' an…
Globalization and global justice
English The transformation of the social work role through the imposition of neo-liberal policies is creating widespread dissatisfaction. This article identifies some bases for resistance to these policies and discusses their potential for informing a new paradigm, based on a rejection of neoliberalism in social work. French L'application des politiques néo-libérales transforme le rôle du travail social, ce qui suscite une insatisfaction générali…
Reclaiming Social Work
Increasing User Choice or Privatizing Risk? The Antinomies of Personalization
Within a very short space of time, the concept of personalization has come to occupy a central place within dominant social work and adult care discourses within the UK. Through an analysis of one influential model of personalization, this paper will explore the factors behind the concept’s current popularity. I shall argue that this popularity is due primarily to its congruence with key themes of New Labour thought, including individualization, …
Democratic language and neo-liberal practice
English Social workers need to be wary of an uncritical acceptance of the concept of civil society. Despite its democratic veneer it is being utilized by international financial institutions and governments as a cover for privatizing health and welfare services both in the South and in much of the North. French Les travailleurs sociaux doivent se montrer prudents envers l’acception non critique de la notion de socié té civile. En dé pit de son ve…
Reclaiming Social Work
A Profession worth Fighting For? Neo-Liberal Britain New Labour, New Social Work The Market and Social Care Consumerism, Personalisation and Social Welfare Movements The Radical Tradition Critical Social Work Issues and Debates Challenging the Consensus
Radical social work in practice
Where's the beef? A response to Gray and Webb's ‘The return of the political in social work’
Gray and Webb's article ‘The return of the political in social work’ is a welcome contribution to current debates. In its critique of the dominance of calculative reason, its rejection of postmodernism and identity politics, and its insistence on the need for social work to openly address issues of power and conflict, it is a useful addition to the growing critical literature concerned with challenging dominant forms of practice. That usefulness …
Asylum policy and asylum experiences
The research focus on asylum seeking has tended to emphasize state and international level processes, with little attention paid to sub-national and local level process, which can influence policy implementation. Drawing on research conducted in devolved Scotland, the paper considers how contradictions and tensions are played out at service agency, community and individual levels and how these fundamentally affect local experiences, as well as il…
"Um Outro Serviço Social é Possível" Reivindicando a Tradição Radical
De la modernización a la "Gran Sociedad"
En el desarrollo del Trabajo Social en el Reino Unido, Harris y White identifican características comunes del neoliberalismo en el mismo bajo los gobiernos conservadores y laboristas (el nuevo laborismo), como son: la subcontratación de los servicios del sector público a las organizaciones privadas y voluntarias, la aplicación de valores y prioridades del sector privado a las organizaciones del sector público, sobre todo las tres «es»: economía, …
Education for Change
The past few years have seen renewed interest in the radical social work tradition both in Britain and internationally in response to the highly negative impact of neo-liberal policies on people's lives and on the profession itself. While these perspectives are now beginning to be included within social work academic curricula, less consideration has been given within the international literature as to how they might also inform practice placemen…
Critical and radical social work
Crisis, austerity and the future(s) of social work in the UK
In response to the current global crisis of capitalism, the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government in the United Kingdom has imposed a policy of ‘austerity’, which seeks to shift the costs of that crisis onto the poorest sections of the population while seeking also to undermine the post-war welfare settlement. This article will explore the implications of that restructuring of welfare for social work. Even before the onset of the cri…
Introduction
Greece and Britain
War
Hope over fear
Prediction of possible futures is fraught with dangers. Neither the global economic crisis which erupted in 2008 nor the political earthquake which shook Scotland over the issue of independence during 2014 was foreseen by many commentators, if indeed any. Given these experiences, predicting where social work education might be in 2025 is a potentially hazardous enterprise. Nevertheless, the recent resurgence of interest in utopian thinking reflec…
Making Sense of Madness
The 1960s saw a challenge to the dominant ideas not only in areas such as women’s oppression and the position of black people, but also in relation to mental health. A central figure, perhaps the central figure, in these debates around mental health and ‘mental illness’ was the Scottish psychiatrist and psychoanalyst R.D. Laing. This article aims to provide an outline of Laing’s key ideas and activities, and to assess the extent to which these id…
Marx
This article offers an outline of Marx’s concept of alienation and his later related concept of commodity fetishism. Building on previously published work on this topic, we argue that the lack of control over our lives and creative activity that, for Marx, defined alienation and that he saw as being more extreme under capitalism than under any previous mode of production has actually intensified during the era of neoliberalism. Through an examina…
The Year of the Barricades
Marx at 200
Political science (23 works) · Sociology (21 works) · Law (19 works) · Politics (17 works) · Social Work Education and Practice (14 works) · Law (12 works) · Economics (7 works) · Healthcare innovation and challenges (7 works) · Political economy (7 works) · Psychology (7 works)