28 ● Anita Gibbs and Kate van Heugten
Frameworks and TheoriesFor the most part, the sociologist will find that any introductory sociology
text will consider a variety of theories to explain social issues and problems,
to in effect promote the sociological imagination. For the social worker, the
focus is on frameworks rather than theories. A framework is a “scaffolding of
ideas that provide a logical and integrated explanation of a whole” (Connolly
and Morris 2012, 46). Frameworks embrace theory, perspectives, knowledge,
values, ethics, and critical concepts. In social work, frameworks connect expla-
nation, analysis, and understanding to intervention—they are “theorizing
in action,” able to incorporate practice, factual knowledge, and experien-
tial knowledge to be used in everyday social work situations (Connolly and
Morris 2012; Trevithick 2008). For each of the frameworks presented in this
chapter, we take a “praxis” approach—that is, the idea that knowledge cannot
be separated from action and that action will feed back into knowledge devel-
opment (Ife 2012). Hence, each framework integrates theory and practice,
enabling those working in the broader human services to use together both
their theoretical understanding and their intervention skills (Ife 2012). For
many sociologists, there has often been a separation of theory from action,
but a social work approach brings them together.
Social work, as a set of theories, ideas, and practices, is itself a social
construction (Payne 2005); therefore, as with sociology, fixed statements
about the nature and complexity of social work frameworks will be contested.
The following discussion of key frameworks could therefore look somewhat
different if other authors were writing this text. Our analysis stems from our
years as social work and sociology educators, and the aim is to offer com-
monly used frameworks from social work that resonate with sociologists’
desires to connect with the lived reality of the problems and people they
encounter. Readers should approach these frameworks with a questioning
mind, as some of the frameworks are less emancipatory than are others.
Case Study: Aleena and FamilyAleena is 22 years old and the mother of three young children: Thomas is five
years old, Julie is two years old, and Jed is four months old. Aleena had been
in an intermittent relationship with the children’s father but has not seen him
for six months, and she says she has broken the relationship off for good.
Aleena lives in a high-rise apartment building and receives welfare benefit
payments from the government, which barely meet her family’s needs. The
neighborhood is run-down and has a high crime rate, and she rarely feels safe
to take her children out. Aleena formerly lived with her mother, but because