Staff

Paul Michael Garrett

Senior Lecturer

PhD (Nottingham)
MA (Liverpool)
MA (Lancaster)
CQSW (Manchester)
BA (Sussex)

Office: 221 Aras Moyola
Telephone: 353 (0)91 495243
Email: pm.garrettnuigalway.ie

Member of the following NUI Galway research collectives: Power, Conflict and Ideologies Research Cluster, the Irish Centre for the Histories of Labour & Class and Work, Society and Governance.

Profile

Paul is the author of four single-authored books critically examining social work/social policy relating to children and families: Remaking Social Work with Children and Families (Routledge, 2003); Social Work with Irish Children and Families in Britain (Policy Press, 2004); 'Transforming' Children’s Services? (Open University/McGraw Hill, 2009); Social Work and Social Theory (Policy Press, 2013). His work has also appeared in academic journals across a range of disciplines and he has presented papers at a number of international conferences. Furthermore, he is a member of the editorial boards of Critical Social Policy (where he edits the book reviews), the European Journal of Social Work and is a consulting editor for the US-based Journal of Progressive Human Services.

Teaching

As well as contributing teaching to a number of other modules within the School of Political Science & Sociology, Paul coordinates the following modules:

'Modernising' Social Work and Social Care
Theory & Social Work 1
Theory & Social Work 2
Welfare Words
Methods of Social Work

Research Interests

Social Theory and social work; the ’transformation' of social work during a period of neoliberalization 

Selected Publications

(2013) Social Work and Social Theory (Bristol: Policy Press).

In order to work effectively, social workers need to understand theoretical concepts and develop critical theory. In this unique book, Paul Michael Garrett seeks to bring the profession into the orbit of the anti-capitalist movement and encourages a new engagement with theorists, rarely explored in social work, such as Antonio Gramsci, Pierre Bourdieu and Nancy Fraser. The book also provides brief, insightful introductions to other important thinkers such as Antonio Negri, Alain Badiou, Luc Boltanski and Ève Chiapello. It provides an accessible and exhilarating introduction for practitioners, students, social work academics and other readers interested in social theory and critical social policy. The book will be a vital resource aiding those intent on creating a new, more radical, social work. It will also be a useful teaching tool to spark lively classroom discussion.
 

(2009) 'Transforming' Children’s Services? Social Work, Neoliberalism and the 'Modern' World (Open University/McGraw Hill).

This book provides an accessible overview of the 'transformation' of Children's Services in England. In doing this, it draws on social theory, critical social policy and takes account of developments in other countries. Paul Michael Garrett argues that the many changes which have taken place within, and beyond, Children's Services are related to the politics of Neoliberalism which, it is maintained, lie at the core of the Change for Children programme.

(2004) Social work and Irish people in Britain: Historical and contemporary responses to Irish children and families (Policy Press).
 
Dominant social work and social care discourses on 'race' and ethnicity often fail to incorporate an Irish dimension. This book challenges this omission and provides new insights into how social work has engaged with Irish children and their families, historically and to the present day. The book provides the first detailed exploration social work with Irish children and families in Britain; examines archival materials to illuminate historical patterns of engagement; provides an account of how social services departments in England and Wales are currently responding to the needs of Irish children and families; incorporates the views of Irish social workers and acts as a timely intervention in the debate on social work's 'modernisation' agenda. The book will be valuable to social workers, social work educators and students. Its key themes will also fascinate those interested in 'race' and ethnicity in Britain in the early 21st century.

(2003) Remaking Social Work with Children and Families (Routledge).
 
Remaking Social Work with Children and Families provides a sustained examination of the 'modernisation' of this area of social care. It analyses some of the key themes introduced by the administrations of John Major and Tony Blair and provides a critical exploration of contemporary policy initiatives and issues. These include: the Looking After Children (LAC) materials; the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and Their Families; 'working together' to protect children; the mainstream approach to 'race' and ethnicity in social work; the implications for social work of the emergence of 'personal advisers', mentors and related professionals. The author argues that political and ideological factors need to be taken into account in order to understand the dominant discourses and evolving practices of social work with children. Potential fixation with ensuring that young people are able to 'fit' into their allotted roles in a market economy and an overarching concern about children and criminality have been crucial in this respect. He concludes that while social workers and educators should be prepared to embrace change, they need to be critical agents in the process of change, recognising the ever present need to promote and foster democracy within the sphere of social welfare.

Articles published by international peer reviewed journals in 2012:

’Adjusting “our notions of the nature of the State”: A political reading of Ireland’s child protection crisis’, Capital & Class, 36 (2): 263-281.

(with L. Gaughan) ’The “most twisted and unaccountable force in the state”? Newspaper accounts of social work in the Republic of Ireland in troubled times’, Journal of Social Work, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 267-286.

’From “Solid Modernity” to “Liquid Modernity”? Zygmunt Bauman and Social Work’, British Journal of Social Work, vol. 42, no. 4, pp 634-651.

’Reactivating the ’Communist Hypothesis’: Alain Badiou and Social Work’, European Journal of Social Work, online access from 12 September http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13691457.2012.724389

’Re-enchanting Social Work? The Emerging “Spirit” of Social Work in an Age of Economic Crisis’, British Journal of Social Work, advanced electronic access from 11 October..

’Amplifying the “White Noise”’, British Journal of Social Work, advanced electronic access from 11 October.

>> For a more extensive list of publications, click here. 

>> For a compendium of book reviews, click here. 

Supervision of Research

Masters in Social Work Dissertations:

2006
Tracey Hough. Children are Children the World Over: The views of Irish foster carers who foster Non-Irish Children
Orla Quinn. Is there any hope for the future? A Study of the psychological consequences and social well-being of Angolan refugee and asylum seeking young people living in Galway City
Fiona Patricia Lyons. Tick, Tock: Where does the Time Go? The pressure undermining direct work with children in child protection
Catherine Sheridan. The Allegory of the Mother in Child Protection Social Work (co-supervised)

2007
Glenn Blaney. Dangerous Masculinities: Social Work Professionals Understanding of Masculinity and the Failure to engage Non-Abusing Fathers in Social Work Services
Elaine Finneran. Schizophrenia and Social Stigma
Fiona Meenaghan. The Perceptions Young People in Care have of their Social Worker

2008
Donal Farrell. Exploring the ’Different Dynamic’: Changing social work in contemporary Ireland
Lorraine Gaughan. Portrayal or Betrayal: Print media reports on the image of social work in the Republic of Ireland

2009
Rachel Lynch. More Than Words: Touch Practices in Social Work: An exploratory study

2010
Eleanor Sexton. Trying to Make it Fit: Complexities associated with relative foster care
Christina Warnock. Social Work, Motherhood and Substance Abuse: A Bourdieusian Perspective

2012
Helen McGuire. More than bricks and mortar: An exploratory study of social work through regeneration of Limerick city
Deirdre Wren. Strategies to Prevent Harm in Irish Prisons

Masters in Family Support Dissertations:

2007
Lorraine Anne Mallaghan. An exploratory study of professional views on supporting the Children of Parents who abuse alcohol

2008
Bronach O'Donoghue. Professionals accounts of inter-agency collaboration in family support

2009
Paul O’Connor, Family Support: Challenging the Limits of Our Helping Paradigms

2010
Sabrina Carey. If you are minding the work you are minding yourself: Reflective practice as an aid to anti-violence workers self-care

2012
Elizabeth Power. Their daily life is outside of me: An exploration of the effects of separation on separated fathers

PhD Supervision

2005
Anne-Marie Dineen. Is Irish governmental social policy in alleviating the social exclusion of the homeless?

2007
Nessa O’Callaghan. Society’s attitude towards young people and their involvement in ’anti-social behaviour’ and government responses 

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