The contribution of feminist postructural and postmodern orientations to theory and practice in social work

In this article it is argued that poststructural and postmodern perspectives have something useful to offer social work, provided these orientations are informed by the ‘social critical power of feminism’ (Fraser and Nicholson, 1993, p. 428). A case study is used to consider the utility of applying feminist poststructural and postmodern perspectives. It is contended that these orientations not only serve to link practice to theory in a different way and to open up new avenues for exploration, but can also be seen to make a contribution to the debate about the current constitution of social work.