scholarly journals The Political Biographies of Social Workers in a Neoliberal Era

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (8) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Hefin Gwilym
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
Critical Time ◽  
Constructivist Grounded Theory ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Careers ◽  
Work Identity ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Face

It is argued in this article that since the 1980s there has been a paradigm shift away from social work as a social justice and social transformative profession to a depoliticised, neutral and technocratic activity. This shift has occured during the era of neoliberalism which some commentators regard as an example of ‘hegemony’ at work in the social work profession. The article contextualises the political nature of social work and the ascendancy of neoliberalism and its ally managerialism in the profession. It explores these phenomena through an empirical study of the political biographies of fourteen social workers who have developed into political careers, such as parliamentarians. Fourteen biographical interviews were conducted and analysed using a constructivist grounded theory analysis process. The findings demonstrate how participants sustained their social work identity in the face of the neoliberal ascendancy within the social work profession and maintained a stable social reformist political identity throughout their life course to date. It also demonstrates how strongly attached the participants are to their social work identity during their political careers. The research has importance for the social work profession not least because this group can advocate on behalf of the profession at a critical time.

scholarly journals Policy and identity change in youth social work: From social-interventionist to neoliberal policy paradigms

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 470-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathrine Vitus
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
The Political ◽  
Identity Change ◽  
Professional Identities ◽  
Political Dimension ◽  
Dominant Ideology ◽  
The Social ◽  
Neoliberal Ideology ◽  
Professional Project

Summary This article analyses – by drawing on ideology critical and psychoanalytical concepts from Slavoj Žižek and Glynos et al. – how political, social and fantasmatic logics interplay and form social workers’ professional identities within two youth social work institutions that operate within different social policy paradigms: a social-interventionist paradigm in 2002 and a neoliberal paradigm in 2010. Findings The article shows how the current neoliberalisation of public policy permeates social work practices through fantasmatic narratives that create professional identities to heal discrepancies in and conceal the political dimension of everyday life. In one institution, within a welfare state-based ideology a compensating-including social professional identity is created in response to the young people’s alleged deficiencies; in the other institution, within a neoliberal ideology a mobilising-motivating identity is created to meet the young people’s alleged excess. In both narratives, however, the young people risk bearing the blame for the failure of the social professional project. Applications Fantasies in both institutions conceal how social workers’ professional identities sustain dominant ideology through dislocating uncertainties, ambiguities and ambivalences implicated in professional social work. Whether rooted in the state-based welfare or market-oriented neoliberal policy paradigms, realisation of these dynamics may expose the basic interdependencies of state, civil society and market actors implicated in the project of professional social work.

scholarly journals Socio-political work during the election race

2021 ◽  
pp. 77-85
Author(s):  
Svitlana Bondar ◽  
Rostyslav Tsimokha
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Social

The article offers an analysis of political parties: their essence, functions, image formation, the role of the party as a mediator between the government and society, the activities of parties in elections. The features of the social work of political parties are shown, on the example of the political party «Team of Sergei Rudyk. A time of change!». Mechanisms, basic approaches, the most common methods and techniques of social work with people are analyzed. The main theoretical strategies and ideas of social work are presented. Position of the political party «Team of Sergei Rudyk. A time of change!» is that first, the solution of social problems is discussed before it will be accepted and even after it has been adopted. On the party’s website https://www.rudyk.org/news/page/4/, the main projects of social work are illustrated. The publication gives the main recommendations for improving the efficiency of social work: the creation of a mechanism to help youth in self-determination in choosing the profession of social worker, to extend forms and directions of professional training of social workers, to increase expansion in the number of periodicals covering the work of social services, centres, social workers. The formation of social policy occurs based on information received from the collection of statistical data and the conduct of sociological studies. Understanding this information allows you to identify the social tasks. The realization of socially significant goals and social problems solution have been organized through social projects and social programs, which form a significant part of social policy.

A Pilot Study to Develop and Validate the Social Worker’s Integration of their Faith – Christian (SWIF-C) Scale

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-78
Author(s):  
Holly K. Oxhandler ◽  
Rick R Chamiec-Case ◽  
Terry A. Wolfer
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Intrinsic Religiosity ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
Work Identity ◽  
The Social ◽  
Work Education

Recent studies have demonstrated that social workers’ intrinsic religiosity is the largest predictor of whether they integrate clients’ religion/spirituality in practice. However, to date, no instrument has been developed to begin to understand the complex relationship between how a social worker’s faith impacts their social work practice and vice versa, especially among social workers who self-identify as Christian. Thus, this paper describes the development of the Social Worker’s Integration of their Faith – Christian (SWIF-C) scale to explore the following: 1) Does the SWIF-C have content and criterion validity?  2) Can the SWIF-C be condensed into fewer subscales to explain factors related to practitioners’ integration of their own religion, spirituality, and faith (RSF) into practice? The results indicated the SWIF-C is reliable and an exploratory factor analysis resulted in four subscales, including the: 1) impact of social work on one’s faith, 2) impact of faith on one’s social work practice, 3) impact of faith on one’s social work identity, and 4) conflict between one’s faith and social work. Based on these findings, implications and recommendations for social work education and practice are discussed.

scholarly journals Surviving or thriving? Enhancing the emotional resilience of social workers in their organisational settings

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Rose ◽  
George Palattiyil
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Stress Management ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Emotional Resilience ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Face ◽  
As Stress

Summary High rates of absence due to stress, and issues with recruitment and retention of staff suggest that social work is a challenging profession. Despite this, many social workers gain a great deal of satisfaction from their role. Various studies have focused on stress management in social work. Less attention has been paid to how social workers maintain resilience in the face of challenges and thrive in their role. Drawing on a social constructionist approach to explore how social workers conceptualise emotional resilience in the context of their profession, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 13 social workers employed in local authority teams. Findings The findings highlight how emotional resilience tended to be associated with stress management by the social workers interviewed. Organisational and structural factors were felt to threaten resilience more than the emotional intensity of working with service users. Application When resilience is conceptualised as stress management, sources of adversity need to be addressed to enable social workers to survive. Resilience needs to be reconceptualised as positive adaptation to the challenges of the social work role in order to promote factors that enable workers to thrive. The insights from the study exhort us to re-examine the scope of social work organisations to enhance the resilience of their workers.

scholarly journals COVID-19 and the calls of humanistic social work: Exploring the developmental-clinical social work concerns of the pandemic

2021 ◽  
pp. 002087282110079
Author(s):  
Robert K Chigangaidze
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Technological Innovation ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Clinical Social Work ◽  
Health Community ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Face

Any health outbreak is beyond the biomedical approach. The COVID-19 pandemic exposes a calamitous need to address social inequalities prevalent in the global health community. Au fait with this, the impetus of this article is to explore the calls of humanistic social work in the face of the pandemic. It calls for the pursuit of social justice during the pandemic and after. It also calls for a holistic service provision, technological innovation and stewardship. Wrapping up, it challenges the global community to rethink their priorities – egotism or altruism. It emphasizes the ultimate way forward of addressing the social inequalities.

Social workers’ peculiar contribution to ethnographic research

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 452-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald de Montigny
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Ethic Of Care ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Ethical Orientation ◽  
Ethical Practice ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The Face

Over generations, social workers have borrowed theories from sociology. However, sociologists have generally avoided borrowing theory from social work. By beginning with social work practice wisdom, we can unfold the complex elements organizing social work practice and by extension ethnographic research. Complexity and resulting uncertainty are antidotes for theoretical purity. Practice as grounded in life, that of client’s and social workers is inherently “dirty”, i.e., messy, disorganized, confusing, unfolding, and uncertain. Understandings and practices are accomplished in a connection of self to a profession, agency/organization, mandate and purpose, and ethical orientation, in interaction with colleagues and clients. Social workers take sides as they are grounded in an ethic of care. The challenge of developing an ethical practice in the face of difference, disagreement, disjunction, and conflict lead social workers to bracket, and hence reflect on the putative coherence of a “life world.” Face-to-face work with individuals rather than being a liability provides a source of knowledge and wisdom to inform social science generally.

Satisfaction with the Social Work Profession: A Ten-Year Analysis of Undergraduate Students' Perceptions

1997 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 835-838 ◽  
Author(s):  
James G. Hanson ◽  
James G. McCullagh
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Career Choice ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Perceived Satisfaction ◽  
High Satisfaction ◽  
The Social

A 10-yr. study of 746 social work undergraduates' perceived satisfaction with seven factors related to their career choice suggested high satisfaction with social work as a career; with the purposes and functions of social work, and the students' initial volunteer experience. There were no significant changes in satisfaction over the 10-yr. period, which findings parallel those of other studies in which similar methods have been used with practicing social workers.

Social workers, critical theory and the political sphere: addressing political misrecognition and marginalisation in the Republic of Ireland

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Flynn
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Critical Commentary ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Electoral Representation ◽  
Irish Politics

Despite the traditional social justice mandate of social work, and critical and radical theoretical traditions that pursue egalitarian and just societies, the engagement of the social work academy with Irish politics has been underwhelming at best. While there are abstract analyses that address sociopolitical theory and ideological wrongdoings related to neoliberalist rationality, attention in social work academia to the nuts and bolts of everyday political life in Ireland, such as democratic party politics and electoral representation, leaves much to the imagination. This article therefore pursues a more grounded reading of social justice in Irish politics for social workers. The supporting proposition is that to effectively interject in political misrecognition and marginalisation, social workers must understand the present political state of play. Towards achieving this, Axel Honneth’s theory of recognition aids thematic critical commentary on the literature.

Social work education in action: How studying for the profession facilitates the adaptation of internationally educated social workers in Canada

2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-127
Author(s):  
Annie Pullen Sansfaçon ◽  
Marion Brown
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
Work Skills ◽  
The Social ◽  
Theory Project ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Adaptation Processes ◽  
Depth Interviews

This article presents the results and theorization of a 4-year Grounded Theory project that sought to understand the processes and dynamics involved in the professional adaptation of internationally educated social workers now practicing in Canada. In-depth interviews with 66 participants, who undertook social work education outside of Canada and have subsequently settled to practice in the country, were conducted. Results highlight that the social work educational background of the professionals not only offers key conceptual, theoretical, and analytical foundations needed to adapt knowledge and skills to practice abroad, but also provides tools to navigate and negotiate professional adaptation processes as a whole. We conclude that ultimately, social workers may adapt well to their new work contexts because of the transferability of social work skills, knowledge, and values to new practice settings, thus facilitating interventions with services users and also their own process of professional adaptation.

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