Ideology, social work and the gaian connection

Abstract

Social workers can face a hazardous intellectual and emotional journey when determining an ideological perspective on which to base their practice. They are urged to be cautious in choosing between seemingly mutually exclusive and competing ideologies. Recognising connections and interrelationships between ideological perspectives may provide social workers with a means of informing their practice from a broader and richer framework. Gaian ideology, or the ecological perspective, recognises connections and the interrelatedness of all things. Its principles are endorsed by a wide range of disciplines and it has already informed some of social work practice. It has the potential to be adapted more extensively for social work theory and practice, particularly at a time when many believe humankind's very survival is threatened by the way it is mistreating the earth.