ABSTRACT
The work of the contemporary French philosopher Jacques Rancière is largely unknown in social work, but in this chapter Stephen Cowden argues that in spite of this they are very relevant. His discussion focuses on Rancière’s distinctive ideas about ‘equality’, as well as looking at the conceptions of education and pedagogy that Rancière has developed from this. As well as introducing Rancière’s work for those unfamiliar with him, Stephen contextualises the significance of these for social work by discussing them in relation to work he carried out on placement with a young offender. The chapter thus aims to both explain Rancière’s ideas as well as showing how they can help social workers to understand issues we face in social work practice.
