Abolitionism and Ecosocial Work: Towards Equity, Liberation and Environmental Justice

The ecosocial work approach incorporates the environment into social justice frameworks. It calls for holistic practices that centre Indigenous and Global South voices, transdisciplinarity, anti-oppressive strategies in micro–macro practice and sustainability. In this article, we argue that the integration of abolitionist theory and practice within ecosocial work—specifically the reduction or elimination of social work from carceral systems that harm the environment and marginalised people—will better equip social workers to meet these goals. To this end, we critically examine three sites of ongoing abolitionist struggle—militaries, prisons and disinvested communities—to demonstrate reimagined strategies for an environmentally just future. Our analysis reveals areas where the ecosocial approach and abolitionism intersect, and how one might inform the other. We conclude by calling for future research to integrate abolitionist ideas into ecosocial work research, education and practice. In integrating environmental justice and abolition, ecosocial work will be better positioned to critique and resist its location in racialised capitalist systems that perpetuate economic, environmental, racial and social injustices. Ecosocial work examines and prioritises interconnections between the environment and social justice. This article suggests that ecosocial work should work to stop practices that simultaneously harm the environment and marginalised people around the world. Using examples from the military, prisons and disadvantaged communities, we show how both the environment and communities suffer at the hands of oppressive systems such as racism that influence institutions such as government and culture. We offer that ecosocial work and abolitionism (dismantling institutions that cause and sustain inequality and imagining and building new alternatives) have shared goals and complementary strengths and need to work together. To create a fairer world, we need to think of how systems of power and oppression that negatively impact both the environment and marginalised people can be challenged and disrupted. We end by encouraging social work researchers, educators and practitioners to incorporate abolitionist ideas into their work.