David's research interests lie in the acquisition and application of power and the ways in which particular social policies mobilise authoritarianism, coercive control and urban marginalisation. The role of increasing globalisation and its impllications for Social Work practice has seen a blurring of the lines between emancipatory practice and a form of practice that (along with co author Dr. Jo Finch) David has termed "securitised safeguarding" often meaning that the very people social workers whould be working with to support societal change experience the most oppressive forms of state intervention.

David has been influenced by theorists such as Stuart Hall, Loioc Wacquant, Poalo Friere, Masoud Kamali and Henry Giroux.