Beyond the Paycheck: Building Sites of Resistance Outside the System

The loosely (and sardonically) described consortia of western democracies are completing a transformation, or perhaps a regression. From covert and thinly disguised (yet historical, inevitable, and pervasive) structures of inequity and disparity, we have entered an era of doubling down. Unabashed, discriminatory, and outright callous policies and norms, hailed by sycophants as a return to former “greatness,” are indeed how the feudal-capitalist colonial undertaking merged to form the global order in the first place. With this, the blatant application of neofascist socio-economic ideologies within institutional sectors, including education and health, and most fervently, immigration, has eclipsed the era of peripheral yet impactful, extremist right-wing groups (Momani & Deschamps, 2021). The shift towards extremism through establishing fortresses of supremacist autocracies in the “west,” has catalyzed an inner crisis in conservative circles; longstanding tacit agreements among the wealthy class have been disrupted, with populism and monocrats their replacement.

Further, we are witnessing some of the most manipulative and devastating forms of censorship. Academic and public institutions, once thought to be beholden to academic freedom and democratic debate, are increasingly disciplining or silencing voices that dissent from dominant political orthodoxies (Reyes, 2025; Wasi, 2025). This contradiction underscores the extent to which neoliberal and neofascist logics regulate material policies as well as dictate the boundaries of acceptable discourse, weaponizing censorship to suppress the voices resisting state-sanctioned oppression.

While some remain astonished as to the depths of the unconscionable and corrupt, critical scholars contend that the system and its agents have simply removed the screen, voraciously voicing both intention and impact (Alcaraz et al., 2022; Maynard, 2017; Momani & Deschamps, 2021). As noted by queer Anishinaabe (Indigenous) scholar Riley Yesno, “Canada has long been implicated in the phenomenon of the rising right… communities targeted by the far-right’s push for power have been grappling with the harm brought on and were advocating for solutions long before the general public realized the depths of their implication” (p. 2, n.d.).

This political shift has been highly effective. The reversal of Roe v. Wade upended longstanding reproductive access guarantees in the US, galvanizing comparable movements and like-minded politicians Canada (Coen-Sanchez et al., 2022). Further troubling, the deceptively labelled “1MillionMarch4Children” Canada-wide protests and the rolling out of “parental rights” legislation in the midwestern province of Alberta, advanced openly vicious campaigns targeting trans youth (Dyck, 2023; Mason & Hamilton, 2023). The systemic dismantling of institutional equity, diversity, inclusion, and anti-racist efforts, a fixation on immigration as the source and cause of economic hardships (Epps & Furman, 2016), and the demonization of those of land-and-human-rights defenders and those who stand against genocide, have effectively produced a collective chill amongst those who feel an ethical obligation to resist. It is within these contexts that social workers, whose organized and collective presence has remained largely silent or glaringly absent, must invoke the moral courage to be visible and active within collective social justice movements.

Social Work and the Limits of Professionalized Social Justice

To what extent can social workers authentically uphold social justice and anti-oppressive principles when systemic pressures and the need to maintain employment compel us to compromise these core values? The claiming of an ethic of social justice is rehearsed within governing social work bodies and academic institutions (Brown et al., 2015; Kam, 2014). The International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) emphasizes that “social justice, human rights, collective responsibility, and respect for diversities are central to social work” (2014, para. 2). In Canada, social workers are beholden to a Code of Ethics centered on promoting social justice (Canadian Association of Social Workers, 2024). Embedded within our disciplinary function is the fallacy that social workers are separate from the systems that enact and uphold oppression (Dominelli, 2017; Kam, 2014). Social work’s commitment and actualization of social justice and solidarity-action remains highly contested and notably called out by Racialized scholars (Alcaraz et al., 2022; Maynard, 2017; Simpson, 2016).

Professionalization further entrenches these contradictions. Social work employment spaces are by design unsafe, dangerous, or even toxic for political social work and are increasingly designed as a broken net in an increasingly inequitable society. The increased commitment to a professionalization standard for evidence-based practice (i.e. logic models), along with a keen interest in private practice as an individual enterprise, has been notable (Fortier & Hon-Sing Wong, 2019). The adoption of these priorities within social work has positioned social workers as individual-level interventionists, disengaging us from accountability for broader policy or systemic advocacy (Fortier & Hon-Sing Wong, 2019; Lorenzetti, 2013). Just as neoliberal logics maintain an ironclad grip on the systemic operations of the profession, they also impose obtuse and diluted definitions of social justice, leaving the profession fractured and estranged from how social justice is understood and practiced in reality. Anti-oppressive, decolonial, and feminist practice is compromised by this hegemonic social conditioning, limiting social work’s capacity to engage in truly transformative work (Dominelli, 1999; Lorenzetti, 2013; Simpson, 2016).

The Case for Sites of Resistance Outside of State Logics

It’s erroneous to believe that social work as a paid profession is a primary site of resistance. On the contrary, the conditions of professional employment often require social workers to reframe or soften “outrageous injustice with the hopes that it becomes palatable to those who are oppressed” (Alcaraz et al., 2022, p. 8; Lorenzetti, 2013). Recognizing the need for resistance movements outside of the profession is not a rejection of social work’s ethical imperative, but an acknowledgement that endurable systemic change is unlikely to be led from within the state’s bureaucratic confines. Sites of resistance are antithetical to social work employment. Therefore, unpaid and largely marginalized by the profession, exist the sites of resistance where relationality and solidarity can thrive outside institutional capture. The Alberta Assembly of Social Workers (AASW) — an anticolonial, antiracist, feminist, and equity-seeking collective — exemplifies such a site. The Assembly provides a collective breathing space for social work activists to critically engage in social justice and strive towards solidarity as a praxis, with a commitment to relationality, community, and impact. Here, we not only theorize social justice but live it relationally — sharing stories, practicing mutual accountability, and sustaining hope through movement-building. Our collective banner also protects members from surveillance, censuring, or retribution from their places of employment.

As Assembly members, we describe our activism as “sharing movement”, a notion that emerged from reflections that “participating in” or “doing” collective action does not account for the depth and experience of collectively sharing and co-constructing an alternative present and future. Therefore, sharing movement reconceptualizes social justice organizing as relational living and an embodied practice rather than a series of actions. It encompasses dialogue, connection, support, transformative learning, and solidarity work. Relationality in this sense speaks to the deeper ethic of accountability to one another, to communities, and to the broader movements of which we are a part, and how power is used and experienced. In confronting struggles and affirming each other's experiences, the practice of sharing movement is thus both a political and affective process; fostering resilience, nourishing belonging, and cultivating the relational infrastructures necessary for long-term activism.

The AASW first coalesced in January 2020 in solidarity with the land right claims of the Wet’suwet’en Indigenous Peoples in northern Canada. Our work quickly evolved during the first weeks of the Covid-19 shutdown, as we recognized the lapse in compassionate political leadership and care for those at greatest risk from the pandemic. Our co-ethical foundation has centered the leadership of members whose communities are most impacted, with calls-and-responses on Indigenous land rights, migrant workers, Black Lives Matter, racial justice, queer and trans rights, and reconcili-action. The impact and influence of our solidarity work was catalyzed by mobilizing within our local networks, faith and ethnocultural groups, as well as our friendships based on an ethic of love.

Fostering Emancipatory Sites of Resistance to our Profession

The reflections raised in this article articulate an inescapable tension: can social justice ever fully or even partially be enacted within professional social work spaces? While structural social work called for the necessity of working both within the system and against it at the same time (Mullaly, 1993), we extend this strategy to the profession itself: working within the profession while creating resistance spaces that are out of reach from professional reprimand. We must ask ourselves how much energy do we spend on changing the employment context? Rather, do we pursue the remedial changes that are possible and provide the support work that meets the communities’ needs within our paid roles (getting ourselves paid) so we can create space for the real work which is outside of anything paid by the system. Genuine resistance emerges in spaces unbound by the state’s logics — in grassroots collectives, community networks, and resistance movements like the Assembly. This is not to negate the value and importance of professional roles and impact, but to underscore that social work cannot be the primary site of resistance. This does not absolve us from doing advocacy work within the system. It has to happen, and we should do it. But to believe that the profession is a site of resistance is a delusion. We are therefore tasked with embracing dual responsibilities: to resist within our paid roles while recognizing that transformative change occurs out of reach of a punitive system.

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