scholarly journals Neoliberalism and social work with children and families in the UK: On-going challenges and critical possibilities

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 72-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Rogowski
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Injustice ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Market Place ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Welfare State

AbstractINTRODUCTION: Neoliberalism, the belief that free market economies are the best way to achieve human well-being, continues to dominate economic, political and social life in the UK, Europe and the globalised world. In the UK the welfare state has gradually been dismantled and become more punitive, the market place has been introduced, and social work has been de-professionalised and transformed into a narrower, more restricted, role. Instead of relationship-based work, practitioners are largely concerned with completing bureaucracy speedily to ration resources and assess/manage risk. Moreover, in relation to children and families, parents need to be self-responsible and, if they fail, a punitive response awaits: being told to change their behaviour/lifestyle or face losing their children to adoption.APPROACH AND CONCLUSIONS: Drawing and building upon my previous work (for example, Rogowski, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016), this article outlines the neoliberal changes and challenges to social work with children and families in the UK, arguing that critical practice is ever more necessary. Such practice entails working alongside children and families on the issues at the root of social injustice, notably growing inequality in the neoliberalised world. Importantly, examples of what such a practice might entail are highlighted.

scholarly journals Moral economies of the welfare state: A qualitative comparative study

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Taylor-Gooby ◽  
Bjørn Hvinden ◽  
Steffen Mau ◽  
Benjamin Leruth ◽  
Mi Ah Schoyen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Work Ethic ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Moral Economy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Investment Policies ◽  
Moral Economies ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Welfare State

This paper uses innovative democratic forums carried out in Germany, Norway, and the United Kingdom to examine people’s ideas about welfare-state priorities and future prospects. We use a moral economy framework in the context of regime differences and the move towards neo-liberalism across Europe. Broadly speaking, attitudes reflect regime differences, with distinctive emphasis on reciprocity and the value of work in Germany, inclusion and equality in Norway, and individual responsibility and the work-ethic in the UK. Neo-liberal market-centred ideas appear to have made little headway in regard to popular attitudes, except in the already liberal-leaning UK. There is also a striking assumption by UK participants that welfare is threatened externally by immigrants who take jobs from established workers and internally by the work-shy who undermine the work-ethic. A key role of the welfare state is repressive rather than enabling: to protect against threats to well-being rather than provide benefits for citizens. UK participants also anticipate major decline in state provision. In all three countries there is strong support for continuing and expanding social investment policies, but for different reasons: to enable contribution in Germany, to promote equality and mobility in Norway, and to facilitate self-responsibility in the UK.

The Welfare State

2020 ◽  
pp. 139-172
Author(s):  
Kevin Vallier
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Market Economy ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Economic Justice ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Free Market Economy ◽  
Redistributive Policies ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Welfare State

The market economy plays a central role in establishing trust for the right reasons. However, a completely free-market economy cannot be justified to nonlibertarians. Most people will endorse some regulations on market activity, and redistributive policies are necessary to improve well-being and deliver economic justice for all. For this reason, some institutions of the welfare state can be publicly justified. We will also see that welfare state measures meant to guarantee economic security have trust-generating properties in the real world, in part because they help spread economic prosperity and economic security to all. So certain aspects of the welfare state should promote trust for the right reasons.

The professional development of social work in Poland after 1989

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabina Pawlas-Czyz ◽  
Lars Evertsson ◽  
Marek Perlinski
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
The State ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Complex Needs ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Welfare State

The close connection to the welfare state has been favourable for the development of many welfare professions. But the state does not always act as an ally. It can push professions in a direction they do not want to go. This happened to the social work profession in Poland where the social work profession claimed jurisdiction for working with children and families with complex needs, but the state chose to give jurisdiction to a new profession – the family assistants. In this chapter, it is argued that this type of jurisdictional dispute should be framed within a political framework, analysing welfare policies as a structuring link between state and professional jurisdiction. The “fate” of the social work profession in Poland reflects a lack of bargaining capacity vis-à-vis the state to tie social policies concerning social work with children and families to their jurisdiction.

Class in Thatcherite Ideology and Rhetoric

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Hard Work ◽  
Language And Thought ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Self Reliance ◽  
Classless Society ◽  
The Welfare State

This chapter examines Thatcherite rhetoric about class and individualism. Thatcher needed to distance herself from her own, narrow, upper-middle-class image; she also wanted to rid politics of class language, and thought that class was—or should be—irrelevant in 1980s Britain because of ‘embourgeoisement’. For Thatcher, ‘bourgeois’ was defined by particular values (thrift, hard work, self-reliance) and she wanted to use the free market to incentivize more of the population to display these values, which she thought would lead to a moral and also a prosperous society. Thatcherite individualism rested on the assumption that people were rational, self-interested, but also embedded in families and communities. The chapter reflects on what these conclusions tell us about ‘Thatcherism’ as a political ideology, and how these beliefs influenced Thatcherite policy on the welfare state, monetarism, and trade unionism. Finally, it examines Major’s rhetoric of the ‘classless society’ in the 1990s.

scholarly journals Disability, Rights and Vulnerability in British Parliamentary Debate

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan Odell
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Disability Rights ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
Disabled People ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Parliamentary Debate ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Disability Movement ◽  
The Welfare State

This paper examines discussion of disability and disabled people by Members of Parliament (MPs) in the UK House of Commons from 1979–2017. It examines general trends in the number of speeches mentioning disability, including the parties and MPs most likely to mention disability issues, and examines how disability is used in conjunction with two keywords: ‘rights’ and ‘vulnerable’. It uses these keywords to explore two conceptions of how the state should engage with disability and disabled people: a paternalistic conception (which post-2010 has become more common) and a rights-based conception (which has been in decline since the 1990s). I conclude with a discussion about how this reflects the disability movement in the UK, and what it means for the future of disability politics, the welfare state and how disabled people themselves might view paternalistic government policies.

Social work academia and policy in Sweden

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarina H. Thorén ◽  
Pia Tham
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Institutional Support ◽  
The Social ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Policy Engagement ◽  
The Welfare State

This chapter examines the engagement of social work academics in the policy process in Sweden. It begins by presenting an overview of social policy and the welfare state in Sweden and by discussing the emergence of the social work profession in that country. The development of social work education in Sweden and its contemporary features are then depicted. Following these, the methodology and the findings of a study of the policy engagement of Swedish social work academics are presented. The findings relate to the levels of engagement in policy and the forms that this takes. The study also offers insights into various factors that are associated with these, such as perceptions, capabilities, institutional support and the accessibility of the policy process. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the findings and their implications.

Social work academia and policy in Germany

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Herz ◽  
Stefan Köngeter
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Institutional Support ◽  
The Social ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Policy Engagement ◽  
The Welfare State

This chapter examines the engagement of social work academics in the policy process in Germany. It begins by presenting an overview of social policy and the welfare state in Germany and by discussing the emergence of the social work profession in that country. The unique features of social work education in Germany and the place of policy engagement in the social work discourse are depicted. Following these, the methodology and the findings of a study of the policy engagement of German social work academics are then presented. The findings relate to the levels of engagement in policy and the forms that this takes. The study also offers insights into various factors that are associated with these, such as perceptions, capabilities, institutional support and the accessibility of the policy process. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the findings and their implications.

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