Social work doctoral education is charged with the task of generating and critically evaluating knowledge to inform and transform both social work practice and society more generally. Scholars note the importance of including multiple ways of knowing in knowledge generation so that social workers can promote the foundational values of social justice and diversity. However, critical scholars have raised concerns about a current dominant tendency to claim one viewpoint as the only truth in social work knowledge (e.g. empirical studies as the 'most objective' form of truth). In fact, social work doctoral courses focus heavily on empirical research methods rather than centring social justice and ethics, deepening a significant gap between research and social justice in social work doctoral education. This article illustrates this ongoing tension in academic culture, and its negative impacts on social justice-oriented social work knowledge generation. To guide social workers, this article draws on Foucault's work which situates knowledge not as an apolitical objective truth, but as a politically and contextually driven construct maintained by those in power. This article also uses sociologist Swedberg's work on theorising to guide social workers in critically appraising and developing their own knowledge whilst reflecting on marginalised voices. Social work doctoral education is charged with the task of generating and critically evaluating knowledge to inform and transform professional practice. To promote the foundational values of social justice and diversity in social work, scholars highlight the importance of multiple ways of knowing and multiple ontological perspectives in social work knowledge generation. Yet, critical scholars have raised concerns about a reviving dogmatism in the philosophical and theoretical orientations (e.g. positivism and empiricism) of social work knowledge. Recent studies also show a significant gap between research and social justice in the social work doctoral curriculum. Critically reflecting and problematising this 'social' phenomenon, I argue that it is essential to engage in ongoing theorising to resist dominant discourses, represent marginalised voices in social work knowledge and furthermore, to teach students how to theorise in doctoral education. Drawing from Foucauldian theories on knowledge and power, this article first contextualises the dangers of dogmatism in knowledge generation in social work. Then, I provide a brief review of the historical development of theorising, introducing Richard Swedberg's work on the topic, particularly his four steps in the 'process of theorising'. How this noble sociological 'theory of theorising' can be incorporated into social work is discussed.
