The Role of Radical Imagination in Social Work Education, Practice, and Research

This article addresses the role of imagination in social work education, practice, and research. Following a brief discussion of terms, the author attempts to identify the various contributions of human imagination to social change processes. The second part presents the argument that the cultural structure known as Social Darwinism significantly curtails the abilities of people holding (or held within) these patterns of thinking to imagine. The third section discusses the ways in which historical key figures, events, and alternative stories can be used to stimulate radical imagination in social work education, research, and practice.