Rooted in a lively, critical approach to social work education and practice, Social Work and Common Sense challenges readers to think critically and more deeply about core facets of social work knowledge and ‘received ideas’. Garrett draws on the work of Antonio Gramsci to develop new, and often provocative, insights on attachment theory, creativity, anger, human rights, the ‘unmarried mother’ in Ireland’s past, and contemporary approaches to ‘decolonising’ social work education.
The book is divided into ten chapters, each of which includes a series of reflection and talk boxes to assist students to critically reflect (individually and in class/seminar and fieldwork/workplace discussions) on key facets of the preceding chapter.
Addressing often complex ideas in a freshly accessible way, Social Work and Common Sense will be required reading in all postgraduate and advanced undergraduate classes in theory and social work.
Table of Contents:
1.Introduction. 2.Theorising common sense. 3.History, common sense and the ‘unmarried mother’ in Ireland. 4.Bowlbyism, common sense and child attachment theory. 5. Common sense creativity. 6.Social work, common sense and anti-anger ideology. 7.Common sense social work and ambivalent allure of human rights. 8.Colonial common sense and ‘decolonising’ social work. 9.Latin American challenges to the common sense of the global north. 10.Conclusion – Towards a new common sense for social work?
About the Author :
Paul Michael Garrett has been described by the International Journal of Social Welfare as 'probably the most important critical social work theorist in the English-speaking world'. He is a member of the Royal Irish Academy and works in Galway. The author of several books, his most recent is Dissenting Social Work published by Routledge in 2021. Associated website: https://www.pmgarrettdsw.com/
Review :
‘Paul Michael Garrett has made an important contribution to the renewal of the radical Marxist tradition in social work over the past twenty years…Garrett in this book has provided a valuable resource for all those who believe that “another social work is possible”. Here, as in his previous book Dissenting Social Work, he has demonstrated that we do not have to settle for the narrow, controlling and rationing approaches that have come to define neoliberal social work’.
(Iain Ferguson, British Journal of Social Work, 2024)
‘Paul Michael Garrett’s book is a great contribution to the field of social work very much in need of critical and radical theoretical perspectives. Social Work and Common Sense is timely and much needed in a time when the neoliberal reorganisation of social policy is increasingly embedded and dominant. More specifically, social work education, its curriculum and practices is being recast in neoliberal terms and the very existence of a social justice orientated social work risks becoming irrelevant. Indeed, given recent developments which are marginalising democracy, violating human rights and social justice, increasing racism, militarism and genocidal wars, Garrett’s book is a must-read book for students, educators and researchers of social work and social policy’.
(Jessica Hanna Jönsson, Critical Social Policy, 2024)
‘This book undoubtedly builds upon previous excellent work from Garrett, in particular on “keywords” (for example Garrett 2018), and therefore regular followers of his will find this a valuable new contribution. However, in dealing with something as ubiquitous and fundamental as common sense, this book will grip a wide range of readers, including social work students, practitioners and academics, and also those outside the social work profession with an interest in common sense and how this comes to be deployed in a professional context such as social work. At a time when there is an increasing insistence in many areas of social work to delineate and narrow what is seen as appropriate and acceptable knowledge, Garrett’s consistent dedication to explore further horizons for social work knowledge and practice is consistently refreshing. The broad approach to the subject also makes the book relevant to social workers everywhere, regardless of geographic location or area of practice…Overall this is an engaging, worthwhile and at times challenging read, firmly in line with the high quality work we have come to expect from Garrett. I expect to return to this book frequently, as I do with much of his work’
(Joe Hanley, Practice: Social Work in Action, 2024).
‘I enjoyed reading the book and I can recommend it to anyone interested in social work, political philosophy, and even sociology or social anthropology’
(Jiří Mertl, Czech and Slovak Social Work, 2024).
‘The book…offers a refreshingly critical perspective on social work education and practice. It encourages readers to reflect on and evaluate the foundational ideas [and it] makes a significant contribution to the understanding and development of the field of social work through its innovative and provocative approach. By challenging fundamental assumptions that are often accepted without question, the book opens up space for deep reflection and critical dialogue…Ultimately, this book is relevant for social work students, practitioners, academics, and anyone interested in the application of common sense within professional contexts, even if they do not work in the social field’
(Alif Ilman Mansyur et al. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 2024).
‘Paul Michael Garrett is widely regarded by many as one of the foremost critical social work theorists in the English-speaking world of social work...Social Work and Common Sense is a continuation of his critical academic project, offering important theoretical perspectives as well as critiques of social work and its educational formation. In his latest contribution, he takes Antonio Gramsci's concept of ‘common sense’ and exposes how seemingly neutral concepts, ranging from attachment theory to human rights, are embedded in historically, contingently, and politically charged frameworks. Furthermore, the publication of this work is particularly timely in a global context marked by rising authoritarianism, the normalization of far-right discourses, and the deepening of neoliberal austerity—elements that have serious repercussions for social work today…By including a chapter that questions colonial common sense and another that introduces important Latin American theorists, he invites readers to turn to other latitudes and authors in order to imagine such alternatives. The work represents both a theoretical contribution and a political provocation for Anglophone social work—one that demands the discipline confront its complicity in the reproduction of common sense and invites a deeper commitment to epistemic and practical transformation’.
(Tal Reininger, Propuestas Críticas En Trabajo Social-Critical Proposals in Social Work, 2025).
‘Garrett is an academic and critical theorist who has played a key role in developing radical perspectives on the direction of his field…Social Work and Common Sense: A Critical Examination provides a rigorous and challenging analysis of how “common sense” assumptions become deeply embedded in professional practice. [Here he] aims to provide a theoretical framework that will lead to more emancipatory approaches focused on social justice, and his work is a valuable resource for social work practitioners, students and academics alike’
(Ian Cummins, The Sociological Review, 2025)
‘This new book on common sense by Paul Michael Garrett is a welcome addition to followers of his substantial body of work…In his 2021 book Dissenting Social Work, Garrett explored the concept of dissenting social work which he described as practice in which social work “interrogates dominant ways of understanding the social world within the discipline”. Garrett begins by arguing that dissent in social work may be stymied by notions of common sense…There is much to explore in this book, and it is an important resource for those teaching critical social work and social policy’
(Liz Beddoe, Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work, 2025).
‘A timely and significant academic book…Common Sense and Social Work probes and challenges the received conception of common sense in the field of social work mainly through Gramscian concept of hegemony and Marxian critique of bourgeois society…In some sense, this book can be read as an act of self-criticism because it challenges certain facets of social work education of the author himself…Anyone who has interest in social theory and common sense should follow Garrett [given his]…erudition and critical insights’
(Du Xingjie, Journal of Social Work, 2025)
‘Paul Michael Garrett’s book presents an insightful and deeply critical analysis of the field of social work, offering an essential reading for students, educators, researchers in social work and social policy’
(Giulia Turrina and Teresa Bertotti, Social Work Education, 2025)
