Challenging Oppression: A Critical Social Work Approach

In Challenging Oppression, Mullaly examines the personal, cultural, and structural or institutional levels of oppression. He demonstrates how and why social workers should approach those who experience social problems based on an imposed inferior type of citizenship (gender, age, disabilities, colour, sexuality) with a broader and deeper understanding of the dynamics and various forms of oppression. Drawing on the insights of such radical thinkers as Frantz Fanon, Paulo Freire, and Albert Memmi this important analysis proposes a psychology of liberation so that all oppressed peoples might resist the dominant hegemony that encourages them to internalize and blame themselves for their own oppression by accepting as normal and inevitable the present society and its frequently oppressive social institutions.