SOWK 5002: Social Work & Theory

I am a first year Ph.D. student attending the University of Denver, Graduate School of Social Work. I am taking a course with Professor Walter LaMendola, who is teaching SOWK 5002: Social Work and Theory.

Part of my course assignment is to create a student blog. I have to admit that I have not been one to follow blogs so this will be an interesting assignment. What I hope to cover in this assignment are those educational objectives associated with the course. This course is designed to prepare students to understand, express, and critically assess social theory from the position of a scholar in the profession of social work. Work with the social is viewed as a set of applied practices: practice is primary.

Areas of interest that will be covered are

• self
• identity
• social structure
• human action

Our required texts include:

Archer, M. S. (2000) Being Human: The Problem of Agency. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Healy, K. (2005) Social Work Theories in Context. New York Palgrave Macmillan

Moya, P., Hames-Garcia, M. R. (Ed) (2000) Reclaiming Identity. Berkeley. University of California Press.

Payne, M. (2005) Modern Social Work Theory (3rd Ed) Chicago: Lyceum Books, Inc.

If you have an interest in this topic, I welcome your comments, questions, and concerns to help generate thinking about Social Work and Theory.