Key Social Work Frameworks for Sociologists ● 35Anti-oppressive thinking “requires recognition of the multiple and varied
forms of oppression in society, and the ways in which people can be harmed
by social inequality” (Connolly and Healy 2013, 27). According to Connolly
and Healy (2013), Dalrymple and Burke (1995), Dominelli (1998), and
Healy (2005), an anti-oppressive framework will
● (^) analyze and deconstruct power relations in society and challenge expres-
sions of power that cause and maintain oppression;
● (^) identify oppression at multiple levels of diverse groups in society and
seek to reduce the negative effects of inequality in people’s lives;
● (^) take a collective and political position to overcome oppressive structures
and discourses;
● (^) empower clients and oppressed peoples to achieve autonomy, equality
of opportunity, and equal access to resources;
● (^) engage people, including human service professionals, in a process of
critical self-examination and reflection, in order to facilitate engage-
ment in the process of change;
● (^) link personal oppression to structural analysis of oppression, including an
acknowledgment of political, economic, welfare agency, organizational,
and interpersonal contexts as locations for anti-oppressive practice.
An empowerment framework can be viewed as an element of the anti-
oppressive approach, or as a framework in its own right. It has been linked
to critical theory (Dalrymple and Burke 1995; Fook 2012). Empowerment
allows for greater understanding of and change within the personal, rela-
tional, political, and economic power and influences in a person’s life; it is
focused on improvement and transformation (Gutierrez 1990). Use of an
empowerment framework encourages the analysis and deconstruction of
power embedded in narratives and discourses, from macrolevels through to
microlevels, and helps to transform power relations (Connolly and Healy
2013; Fook 2012). Processes of deconstruction, resistance, challenge, and
reconstruction can be used to enable people to understand the positive and
negative effects of power in their lives, as well as to help them gain increased
control over some areas of their lives.
Feminist frameworks, while distinct in their own right, have also been
widely used in anti-oppressive social work, and these frameworks will resonate
with sociologists. Feminist frameworks emphasize the importance of chal-
lenging sexist political, institutional, and microlevel processes and practices.
Feminist frameworks question male or patriarchal norms and definitions of
knowledge and assert the interests of women across all domains of society
(Payne 2005). An empowerment orientation is incorporated into feminist