Michael Lavalette
Biographic Data
| ID | 261810 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michael Lavalette |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michael |
| FAMILY NAME | Lavalette |
| SIGNATURE | LAVALETTE M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Liverpool Hope University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1472-3811 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 40 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 125 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 37 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 3 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1989 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Contesting Neoliberal Reform of Statutory Social Work in Switzerland and England
This article reports findings from a qualitative study of the impacts of, and practitioner responses to, neoliberal social work reforms in Switzerland and England. The article highlights commonalities, and contrasts, in how neoliberalism has restructured social work across the two jurisdictions. Social workers responded to neoliberalisation in a variety of ways, often through adaptation but sometimes by challenging reforms. This resistance primar…
“Não está escuro ainda, mas está chegando lá”
Na terceira década do século XXI, enfrentamos uma série de crises interligadas que ameaçam a própria base da vida no Planeta Terra. Estas incluem uma crise ambiental; uma pandemia de COVID-19 que se estima ter causado mais de 15 milhões de mortes em todo o mundo; uma crise econômica contínua; uma crise política, com o crescimento de partidos e governos de extrema-direita numa escala não vista desde a década de 1930; e a crescente competição inter…
Black Lives Matter
Abortion rights and Roe v Wade
This paper draws together the work of three leading social work academics to look at the question of abortion and a woman’s right to chose in the context of the recent Roe V Wade reversal in the United States
The fire last time
Year of Crisis
The ‘Dubrovnik Manifesto’
As Editor-in-Chief of CRSW, I am delighted that we have been offered the chance to publish the ‘Dubrovnik Manifesto’. The manifesto is the outcome of a collaborative process, written collectively by participants at the Dubrovnik social work conference in 2019. I would like to record our thanks for their permission to reproduce it here
Roy Bailey, 1935–2018
An obituary for radical social work pioneer Roy Bailey
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
The crash 10 years on
Marx at 200
Sylvia Pankhurst
Sylvia Pankhurst was a well-known Suffragette from the period prior to the First World War. It is less well known that she was also a socialist activist, an anti-racist and a founding member of the British Communist Party. However, can we consider her a social worker? This piece looks at Sylvia’s early life and argues that her radical welfare interventions between 1912 and 1917 mark her out as a pioneer of radical social work interventions
War
Greece and Britain
Once more on ‘popular social work’
The article by Jones and Lavalette in Critical and Radical Social Work , volume 1, number 2, entitled ‘The two souls of social work’ has provoked some debate in the journal. This response explores the concept of ‘popular social work’ and its relationship to ‘state-directed social work’ in general and radical social work in particular
Social work world congress report
Introduction
Critical and radical social work
The two souls of social work
This article looks at the hidden history of ‘popular social work’. It suggests that suspicion of state-directed social welfare and social work has a long history, that state-directed welfare is rarely unconditional and non-stigmatising, but that these values are enshrined and embedded within popular social work, which is often rooted in social movement activity. The article argues that we need to see social work as a much more contested activity,…
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…
Radical Social Work Today
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…
Social Policy
THEORETICAL APPROACHES Neo-Liberalism and Social Policy Towards a 'New' Social Democracy Marxism and Welfarism Feminist Critiques of Social Policy Racism and Social Policy CONCEPTUAL DEBATES IN SOCIAL POLICY Distributive Justice and Social Policy Citizenship, Social Solidarity and Social Policy Cultural Turns, Post-Structuralism and Social Policy Living in a Material World Postmodernism and Social Policy SOME CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL POLICY ISSUES Chi…
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…
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…
Child Employment Research in Britain
The recent article by Mizen, Bolton and Pole (1999) is a welcome addition to the literature on child labour in contemporary Britain. We agree with the authors that academics have neglected this issue for too long. They are correct to highlight the need for a fuller understanding of children's motivation to work. However, there are a number of points in the article with which we disagree. In responding to it, we hope to stimulate debate on a range…
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…
Active Citizens’ or ‘Irresponsible Truants’? School Student Strikes against the War
This article looks at the development of citizenship education within schools and assesses its impact on the school strike wave against the war on Iraq that took place during February and March 2003, in part utilizing interview material drawn from active strikers. Although citizenship, as outlined in the Crick Report, should have welcomed young people’s active engagement with the political process, the overwhelming response of the educational est…
Critical and radical social work
Undermining the 'north-south divide'? Fighting the poll tax in Scotland, England and Wales
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…
A Thing of the Past? Child Labour in Britain in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Part 1 The theoretical context of child labour research: the new sociology of childhood and child labour - childhood, rights and children's voice, Michael Lavalette theorising children at work - family, state and relations of production in historical context, Michael Lavalette. Part 2 Child labour in British history: child labour and British industrialization, Sara Horrell, Jane Humphries the historic viability of child labour and the Mines Act o…
Social work, postmodernism, and marxism
This article sets out to question two dominant trends in social work theorizing: 'pure postmodernism and those attempts to revitalize emancipatory social work by combining elements of postmodernism with elements of a broadly Althusserian Marxism. The article starts by addressing the foundations of postmodern theorizing in social work, rejecting its claims for emancipatory theory. It proceeds to look at the concern with language and identity withi…
The emerging problem of child labour
Contesting Neoliberal Reform of Statutory Social Work in Switzerland and England
This article reports findings from a qualitative study of the impacts of, and practitioner responses to, neoliberal social work reforms in Switzerland and England. The article highlights commonalities, and contrasts, in how neoliberalism has restructured social work across the two jurisdictions. Social workers responded to neoliberalisation in a variety of ways, often through adaptation but sometimes by challenging reforms. This resistance primar…
Marx at 200
Casual Lives
The two souls of social work
This article looks at the hidden history of ‘popular social work’. It suggests that suspicion of state-directed social welfare and social work has a long history, that state-directed welfare is rarely unconditional and non-stigmatising, but that these values are enshrined and embedded within popular social work, which is often rooted in social movement activity. The article argues that we need to see social work as a much more contested activity,…
The struggle against the poll tax in Scotland
April the first, 1989, was an historic day in Scotland. Traditionally April Fool's Day has historically given rise to a wide-range of pracical jokes and stunts, a day for laughing as friends and enemies are caught unawares. But this year's April Fools Day was not a laughing matter for the vast majority of Scotland's population. As 25,000 demonstrators marched through Edinburgh in a protest against the Poll Tax, 3.9 million Scots started receiving…
The struggle against the poll tax in Scotland
April the first, 1989, was an historic day in Scotland. Traditionally April Fool's Day has historically given rise to a wide-range of pracical jokes and stunts, a day for laughing as friends and enemies are caught unawares. But this year's April Fools Day was not a laughing matter for the vast majority of Scotland's population. As 25,000 demonstrators marched through Edinburgh in a protest against the Poll Tax, 3.9 million Scots started receiving…
Undermining the 'north-south divide'? Fighting the poll tax in Scotland, England and Wales
The emerging problem of child labour
The poll tax struggle in Britain
Casual Lives
A Thing of the Past?
Michael Lavalette’s A Thing of the Past? uses historical and sociological research to provide multiple interpretations of the changing nature and form of child labour in Britain during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The book itself is split into three parts, The Theoretical Context of Child Labour Research; Child Labour in British History; and Contemporary Issues, and features chapters that emphasise the effect of the Industrial Revoluti…
Social work, postmodernism, and marxism
This article sets out to question two dominant trends in social work theorizing: 'pure postmodernism and those attempts to revitalize emancipatory social work by combining elements of postmodernism with elements of a broadly Althusserian Marxism. The article starts by addressing the foundations of postmodern theorizing in social work, rejecting its claims for emancipatory theory. It proceeds to look at the concern with language and identity withi…
Child Employment Research in Britain
The recent article by Mizen, Bolton and Pole (1999) is a welcome addition to the literature on child labour in contemporary Britain. We agree with the authors that academics have neglected this issue for too long. They are correct to highlight the need for a fuller understanding of children's motivation to work. However, there are a number of points in the article with which we disagree. In responding to it, we hope to stimulate debate on a range…
A Thing of the past
A Thing of the Past? Child Labour in Britain in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Part 1 The theoretical context of child labour research: the new sociology of childhood and child labour - childhood, rights and children's voice, Michael Lavalette theorising children at work - family, state and relations of production in historical context, Michael Lavalette. Part 2 Child labour in British history: child labour and British industrialization, Sara Horrell, Jane Humphries the historic viability of child labour and the Mines Act o…
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 …
Children, Welfare and the State
Children, Welfare and the State - Barry Goldson An Introduction The Sociology of Childhood - Michael Lavalette and Stephen Cunningham New Sociology and Old Psychology - Sandy Hobbs Children's Voices and Researching Childhood - Jim McKechnie Rich Children, Poor Children - Tony Novak Children and Education - Henry Maitles Inequalities in Our Schools Working Children - Niamh Stack and Jim McKechnie Children, Class and the Threatening State - Chris J…
Rethinking Welfare
Book note for Ian Ferguson, Michael Lavalette and Gerry Mooney, Rethinking Welfare: A Critical Perspective. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Pub- lications, 2002. $92.00 hardcover, $27.00 papercover
Active Citizens’ or ‘Irresponsible Truants’? School Student Strikes against the War
This article looks at the development of citizenship education within schools and assesses its impact on the school strike wave against the war on Iraq that took place during February and March 2003, in part utilizing interview material drawn from active strikers. Although citizenship, as outlined in the Crick Report, should have welcomed young people’s active engagement with the political process, the overwhelming response of the educational est…
Globalisation, Global Justice and Social Work
Social Policy
THEORETICAL APPROACHES Neo-Liberalism and Social Policy Towards a 'New' Social Democracy Marxism and Welfarism Feminist Critiques of Social Policy Racism and Social Policy CONCEPTUAL DEBATES IN SOCIAL POLICY Distributive Justice and Social Policy Citizenship, Social Solidarity and Social Policy Cultural Turns, Post-Structuralism and Social Policy Living in a Material World Postmodernism and Social Policy SOME CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL POLICY ISSUES Chi…
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…
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…
Radical Social Work Today
Critical and radical social work
The two souls of social work
This article looks at the hidden history of ‘popular social work’. It suggests that suspicion of state-directed social welfare and social work has a long history, that state-directed welfare is rarely unconditional and non-stigmatising, but that these values are enshrined and embedded within popular social work, which is often rooted in social movement activity. The article argues that we need to see social work as a much more contested activity,…
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…
Social work world congress report
Introduction
Greece and Britain
Sociology (28 works) · Political science (27 works) · Law (22 works) · Law (16 works) · Social Work Education and Practice (12 works) · Engineering (11 works) · Politics (11 works) · Work (physics (11 works) · Economics (9 works) · Philosophy (9 works)