Dialogues on the Future of Social Work: Exploring Post-Anthropocentric Approaches through Practitioner Imagination

This study explores the integration of a post-anthropocentric approach in social work, addressing the discipline’s anthropocentric limitations within a six-month exploratory project, the first Italian inquiry into such perspectives. Drawing on feminist posthumanism and neo-materialist theories, this exploratory small-scale study examines how Italian social workers make sense of post-anthropocentric ideas, the ethical questions these raise, and the perceived implications for everyday practice. The research, conducted through a workshop using the future dialogue technique, involved Italian social workers who envisioned social work in 2034 and pathways toward adopting this approach. The analysis reveals enthusiasm and concern: participants recognise the need for ethical change but identify institutional and organisational barriers to implementation. The findings suggest that social workers see the urgency of expanding ethics to include more-than-human subjectivities, but emphasise the need for gradual integration through interdisciplinary training and policy adaptation. The study contributes by mapping receptivity and resistance areas and highlighting organisational and educational prerequisites for gradual integration, proposing ‘purposeful slowness’ as an ethical stance for pacing change. It concludes that imagination and ethical commitment are central to shaping post-anthropocentric professional futures.