Empowerment: A Critique

McLaughlin explores the concept of empowerment, its emergence in the 1960s, and its rise in the 1990s, examining its social status and its impact on social policy, social work, and health and social care discourse. He argues that a focus on empowerment has superseded the notion of political subjects exercising power autonomously.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 160 pages
Publication date: 31 May 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Empowerment is a term that is widely used today and is often regarded as a self-evident good. In this book, McLaughlin examines the emergence of empowerment from the 1960s to the 1990s and its prevalence in contemporary discourse. He explores its social status, particularly in social policy, social work, and health and social care discourse. McLaughlin argues that the focus on empowerment has replaced the notion of political subjects exercising power autonomously.

This innovative volume discusses the relationship between concepts of empowerment and power, as they have been understood historically. It analyzes changes in the conception and meaning of empowerment in relation to the shifting social and political landscape. It acknowledges the positive impact that empowerment strategies have had on those who have campaigned for empowerment and on those who have seen their role as helping empower others. It also highlights how talk about empowerment can work in such a way as to further disempower those already marginalized.

Critically examining how 'empowerment has become embedded in contemporary social and political life, this work offers a discussion of the terms multiple meanings, what it actually entails, and how it constructs and positions those being empowered and those empowering.

Weight: 300g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032569727