Abstract
Understanding the dynamics of power is central to all areas of social work including practice, policy, education, and research. As argued by Thompson (2017), however, power has previously been oversimplified in social work literature, with a predominant discourse of discrimination, control, and prejudice rather than a wider understanding of the operations of power at macro, meso, and micro levels. After first outlining commonly recognized theories of power in social work education and practice, the Four Expressions of Power is introduced as a coherent framework for systematically analyzing power from multiple angles in qualitative research. The application of the Four Expressions of Power is illustrated through application to the theme “challenging bureaucracy,” drawing on findings derived from a recent study that examined social workers perceptions of relationship-based practice (RBP; Pascoe, 2024). Applying the framework demonstrates how the Four Expressions of Power can be used to identify the intersecting forces that shape social work practice, helping to shift the narrative beyond power as a source of oppression or control.