Enlighten me: teaching social justice in further and higher education by reclaiming philosophically liberal values – a social work education case study

This article suggests that traditional, liberal values that comprise the broad value consensus of most western democracies may be at risk of erosion, especially in further and higher education settings. The factors that may be contributing to their devaluation include: the down-grading of belief in unique individualism and common humanity in favour of reified group identity, the erosion of the importance of ‘liberal science’ or a liberal definition of what constitutes knowledge, the supplanting of economic social justice concerns with identity matters, and the erosion of free speech. These developments are related to the promotion of a certain type of postmodern social justice critical theory, typified by critical race theory (CRT), and this article will explore their impact on education.

Tenets of CRT, as espoused by mainstream writers, will be summarised and contrasted with liberal values to illustrate the concerns raised. In the example of social work education, the case is made that postmodern critical social work can be co-opted by ‘progressive neoliberalism’ and the punitive approach to ‘undeserving’ groups that this entails. Awareness of this concerning development is very important in the education of future professionals in any of the human services. The article concludes that liberal principles should be robustly reclaimed within social work and further and higher education more broadly.