The Potentially Harmful Effects of Theory in Social Work

Abstract

Although the social work literature praises the integration of theory with practice, research, and education, there has been insufficient attention to the potentially harmful ways in which theory can be used. Bad (those known to be invalid) theories, in particular, waste the time of educators and researchers, and can lead to the development of ineffective and harmful social work practice. Adherence to a particular theory can significantly bias one's research studies, teaching, and practice in injurious ways, and in many instances theoretical content is simply inappropriately retrofitted into research for the purposes of making studies appear to be more ‘scientific’ or respectable. Theories of human behavior in the social environment permeate the social work discipline but not all that is taught and practiced is scientifically credible. This has harmful consequences to the usefulness of the profession to the public. Social work needs a more informed, legitimate, and useful integration of empirically-supported HBSE theory into its practice, research, and educational efforts, and a culling of invalid, ineffective, and harmful theory. This can be accomplished by adopted a more evidence-based approach to social work.

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