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AbstractAn examination of resistance to the neoliberal dominance over public welfare organisations' operation reveals a situation of stagnation, with the call for critical resistance translated into either sporadic minor practices of isolated professionals or theoretical manifestos that demand major change, but have inadequate effect on policy. Drawing from Sanford Schram's framework of radical incrementalism as a possible challenge to neoliberal hegemony, this study traces the implementation of the Poverty‐Aware Social Work paradigm in the Israeli welfare system. Building on 16 interviews with senior agents at the Israeli Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Services, this study demonstrates the significance of this critical framework in allowing different agents to challenge the hegemonic standpoint of the Ministry. Thus, it offers a preliminary conceptualisation of contextualised resistance, which operates in the mediated sphere of power exertion, granting minor practices sufficient presence to pave the way for new opportunities for major policy change.

AbstractScholars claim that the integration of critical social work into public social services is impossible considering its weak position in the managerialist context of these services. Consequently, critical practice is mainly described as covert and reflective of the hierarchical power dynamics between managerialism and critical professionalism. Thus, the option of integrating critical social work into the institutionalised operation of the profession, which involves engaging in critical practice to the extent possible in the context of public services beyond micro and covert practices, has not been sufficiently described. This study addresses this gap, exploring the process of implementing the critical professional 'Poverty-Aware Social Work Paradigm' (PAP) into the Israeli public welfare services. Based on twenty-five interviews with field-level social workers in the PAP programmes, the findings describe critical practices as operating simultaneously at the interpersonal and structural levels, mainly through covert actions. The discussion illustrates the significance of merging the interpersonal and structural levels of critical practice and describes the limited arena in which critical professionalism operates in public services.

Summary While managerialism is widely criticized for its deskilling effect on professional discourses, the evaluation of the power relations between managerialism and the critical professionalism that opposes it has not yet been sufficiently developed. To enable the assessment of fluctuations in these power relations, this study used in-depth interviews with 14 street-level social workers to examine the encounter between these discursive standpoints in the context of a specific case of an administrative request for critical professional programs to be implemented in the field. Findings The findings highlight the operation of recognition as a salient parameter of discursive power positions. We address three aspects of recognition—discursive, interpersonal, and institutional—and demonstrate the existence of a struggle over the acceptable professional standpoint in the institutionalized public field of social work. Applications Attention should be given to the different dimensions of recognition in order to enable the implementation of critical practice in the public field of social work. These dimensions can be addressed through broad training of various players in the field and the institutional backing of critical practice requirements.

Abstract
The experiences and daily lives of older adults living in poverty are underexplored topics in the literature. Specifically, the question of agency and how older people cope with poverty and resist it requires further investigation. Ruth Lister's model is the theoretical foundation of this study, which emphasises individuals' ability to be active agents in shaping their life stories. Lister's renowned model of agency in poverty focuses on working-age people and is widely used by scholars. The current qualitative study expands on Lister's theoretical articulation of agency by presenting the stories of twenty-seven older people living in poverty in Israel. The findings demonstrate how, under the social constraints of ageing, people tend to focus on the personal and local agency of survival because strategic and more political forms of agency are structurally inaccessible. These findings have practical implications. Social workers can play a crucial role in recognising older adults' agency, standing with them in their struggles, advocating for them by addressing structural barriers and facilitating their access to resources. We also employ these findings to develop an expanded theoretical articulation of agency that incorporates agents and their respective social circles.

Abstract
One of the main characteristics of social work is the fundamental tension between the profession's conservative and critical rationales. In the last three decades, this tension has informed the development of critical resistance to the deprofessionalisation effects of neo-managerial rationality, which establishes cost reduction and fiscal accountability as the basis for professional practice. However, the theoretical conceptualisation of such critical resistance is caught between minor and major operations, both of which are considered insufficient. Addressing this gap, this article builds on the theoretical framework of radical incrementalism to develop a research agenda for the future study of resistance processes, which we conceptualise as operating in the middle range of a power exertion scale, between minor and major forms of operation. We portray the operation of resistance in the middle range of such a power exertion scale and offer a research agenda that includes relevant research directions and methodological considerations. In this way, the article suggests new ways of understanding, conceptualising and operating resistance to enable further development of the social justice-informed professionalisation of social work.

Abstract
This study investigated the correlations between social workers' levels of religiosity and their professional attitudes toward discussing sexual health. The focus was particularly on the potential mediating role of their attitudes to heteronormative beliefs. A random sample of 150 social workers from Israel (Jewish [63.3 percent], Palestinian-Arab [36 percent], and those who self-identified as "other" [0.7 percent]) completed a self-administered questionnaire. The findings revealed significant correlations among professional attitudes toward discussing sexual health, attitudes toward heteronormativity, and degree of religiosity. Social workers with higher levels of religiosity exhibited higher levels of heteronormative beliefs, which, in turn, influenced their professional attitudes toward discussing sexual health. Furthermore, the findings highlight the importance of challenging heteronormative perspectives for all social welfare service users. Social work must establish culturally sensitive training to challenge the hegemony of heteronormative perspectives while connecting to religious and conservative values and perceptions.

Critical reflection processes are fundamental to critical social work practice. Nevertheless, these processes have been criticized for lacking a coherent translation to direct professional practice. Existing models of critical reflection culminate in the formulation of critical professional perspectives, leaving the translation of critical perspectives into direct practice underdeveloped. This gap requires attention, specifically in the contemporary context of social services that operate under the hegemony of conservative and neoliberal discourses, which impede critical rationality and practice. Therefore, a nuanced conceptualization of the process that links critical reflection and critical practice is required. This article provides such a conceptualization by describing an undergraduate social work course that used a collaborative inquiry group to explore critical participatory practices. Building on our collaborative inquiry experiences and findings, we portray a process that included critical reflection, direct critical practice, and the development of a critical professional perspective. Based on the conceptual framework of action science, our conceptualization demonstrates how the process of addressing the tension between critical and hegemonic perspectives enables professionals to create critical practice within the hegemonic field. In this way, we provide a theoretical contribution to the construction of critical reflection models and a practical contribution to professional developmental processes that promote critical professionalism.

Transformative approaches to social work have been popular for some time. Most discussions of this perspective, however, focus on actual practice with clients or service users, not educational contexts. In addition, there is often a lack of clarity about what "transformative" really means, both in theory and in practice.This book brings together a range of contributors to reconsider transformative social work, focusing on concrete examples in academic settings both inside and outside the classroom. They illustrate theories and practices of transformative social work in the academy in detail from different standpoints. Chapters by scholars at all career stages, students, staff, and managers consider all aspects of academic work—teaching and learning, research, and administration—as well as labor that academics perform outside the university. Authors describe their understanding of a transformative perspective as well as the practices that flow from this conception, providing rich detail on how a transformative approach can be implemented.This book stands out for the breadth of its focus, its international contributions, and its openness about the new challenges involved in doing transformative work today. It develops an expansive and systematic understanding of what "transformative" can mean across the entire academic and professional context of social work education