The New Left and Social Work

Cummins, ID

Abstract

The New Left is a term that is applied to a group of intellectuals and academics that emerged in the UK in the late 1950s and 1960s. The group sought to develop a new political perspective. The Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 meant that several members of the group, for example, the historian E.P. Thompson left the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). In the same year, the French and British invasion of Egypt to take control of the Suez canal demonstrated to the group that there was an ongoing need to challenge colonialism. The group welcomed the development of the post-war British welfare state and institutions such as the National Health Service. However, it was critical of what it saw as the limitations of social democratic welfare states. This chapter will provide a brief outline of the development and politics of the New Left. It will then examine the influence of the sociologist and cultural theorist, Stuart Hall. It will then consider the influence of the New Left on progressive politics and indirectly influenced social work.

Citation

Cummins, I. (2022). The New Left and Social Work. In S. Webb (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of International Critical Social Work. Taylor and Francis

• Acceptance Date: Jan 30, 2022
• Publication Date: Nov 11, 2022
• Deposit Date: Feb 20, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: May 12, 2024
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Book Title: The Routledge Handbook of International Critical Social Work
• ISBN: 9781032078885
• Publisher URL: https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-International-Critical-Social-Work-New-Perspectives/Webb/p/book/9781032078885