scholarly journals Collective endeavours: finding community, love and hope

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret S. Malloch
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Community Support ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Mutual Aid ◽  
Modern Life ◽  
Grass Roots ◽  
Collective Resistance ◽  
Professional Resources

Strains on professional resources and complex experiences of isolation and despair have taken their toll on communities, adding to the challenges for social workers and social work as a profession. In a context of austerity and locational stress, communities are increasingly relied upon to enhance or, indeed, replace the need for state intervention. However, grass-roots and mutual aid collectives have the potential for both community support and resistance. Using original qualitative data, this article explores how some groups based in Scotland’s most deprived locales provide collective and mutual aid, and, in doing so, attempt to address some of the challenges of modern life (such as overcoming addiction, isolation and mental anguish). Importantly, this article revives and develops Erich Fromm’s discourse on the importance of ‘love’ and Marx’s concept of ‘spiritual emancipation’ to explore the potential for transforming individual experiences into collective resistance.

Social workers in the Revolution: Social work’s political agency and intervention in the Portuguese democratic transition (1974–1976)

2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 425-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro G Silva
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Democratic Transition ◽  
Political Agency ◽  
Military Coup ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Grass Roots ◽  
The Ideal ◽  
The Revolution

A period of profound social and political changes, the democratic transition that followed the 1974 military coup in Portugal had an enormous impact on social work. The Revolution set the ideal conditions for social workers to perform alternative forms of intervention, moving away from the assistance-focused practices characteristic of the former authoritarian rule. Incited by the new progressive political agenda, social workers stood at the forefront of the Revolution, working alongside grass-roots mobilisations and experimental participative projects, overtly assuming political stands. This article analyses the agency of social workers in the various political and social fronts during the democratic transition.

scholarly journals Resistance from within: social work within the community support sector of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph L. Durand
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
Community Support ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Recognition Theory ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Impact

This study examines the impact of surveillant care managerialism upon the practice of three social workers employed within the community support sector in Ontario health care. It applies the “Foucauldian Toolkit” of Jason L. Powell to examine the nature of the discourse shaping their practice and how they are both complicit and resistant to these discourses. It introduces recognition theory as counter discourse and argues that through the unique knowledge gained through relationships of respectful recognition that social workers act justly. Moreover it is argued that the relationships between social workers and their clients is the source of our unique knowledges as practitioners. Finally, this study examines the implications of social workers integrating a Foucauldian understanding of the reflexive relationship of power/knowledge and how through intersubjective relationships, we practice, create identities and serve the needs of justice even in a system and profession which does not acknowledge it as a requirement.

scholarly journals Amplified injustices and mutual aid in the COVID-19 pandemic

2020 ◽  
pp. 147332502097332
Author(s):  
Finn McLafferty Bell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mutual Aid ◽  
The World ◽  
Climate Crisis ◽  
Ways Of Being

The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified existing injustices in the United States, which is exemplified in Ypsilanti, Michigan. However, the pandemic also provides an opportunity to re-imagine existing ways of being in the world, and mutual aid networks that have provided for people's basic needs during multiple crises while also working towards more radical change provide an opportunity for social workers to examine their relationship to “helping.” The author uses their personal experience with a local mutual aid network to examine the power and possibility of mutual aid, particularly in times of crisis, as well as sources of social work resistance to decentralized and non-professional forms of helping and caring. These lessons are carried beyond the COVID-19 pandemic to their consequences for the looming climate crisis.

scholarly journals Conceptualization of Soft Skills as Part of the Professional Socialization of Social Workers

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
FUZIAH SHAFFIE ◽  
RUZLAN MD. ALI ◽  
FAHAINIS MOHD. YUSOF
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Professional Socialization ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
The Social ◽  
Higher Institutions ◽  
Depth Interviews

This article discusses the conceptualization of soft skills which current higher institutions’ educators of professional programmes should contemplate. Social work educators were probed to describe their experiences within their profession, and viewpoints on, soft skills as part of the professional socialization of social workers toward becoming professionally and socially competent when providing their services to their clients. In-depth interviews were used as means of gathering qualitative data. The transcribed data was then thematically analysed. This paper highlights the opinions of two social work educators, from two public universities, on the issue of soft skills among social workers. The social work educators insinuated that it is important to raise awareness of soft skills competencies among social work educators to help them in assessing themselves, and identify where and how they could actively seek to improve themselves as trainers or teachers of social workers to function effectively within the context of their workplaces. Embedding the soft skills competencies into their career as social workers is assumed as one of the effective and effcient method of achieving both professional and social competence. The proposed soft skills provided early ideas and initiatives which can serve as guideline when facilitating and guiding future qualifed social workers.  

scholarly journals The radical turn of Portuguese social work during the democratic transition (1974–76)

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Gabriel Silva
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Transition To Democracy ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Grass Roots ◽  
Grass Roots Initiatives ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Radical Intervention

The transition to democracy in Portugal in the 1970s provides the socio-historical background for this article. It focuses on the period of 1974–76, known as the revolutionary phase, when a series of progressive political programmes, forms of direct democracy, collective mobilisation and widespread grass-roots initiatives emerged in the aftermath of the dictatorial regime. The experiences of Portuguese social workers in the aforementioned revolutionary vanguards will be compared and interpreted by using the radical social work approaches that sprang up in the UK and US at the time. Ten in-depth interviews with social workers involved in radical intervention during the revolutionary phase will be compared to the key tenets of the radical social work literature of the 1970s.

Layering, social risks and manufactured uncertainties in social work in Poland1

2019 ◽  
pp. 185-200
Author(s):  
Paweł Poławski
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Social Risks ◽  
Activation Policy ◽  
Depth Interviews

This chapter shows the latent functions and perverse effects of activation policy, conditionality, and related governance reforms implemented on a local level in Poland from the perspective of social workers. The chapter focuses on the consequences of layering processes within welfare state institutions, and how these processes shape the structure of social assistance and affect social work. The analysis is based on qualitative data collected from in-depth interviews with social workers that cover their experiences with the implementation of activation measures that have been modified and adjusted to local realities. The research confirms that orientation toward poverty management is strengthened by the pillarization of organizational structures and financial mechanisms, and that the reforms generate dysfunctions and strengthens uncertainties for both beneficiaries and social workers.

Philpott, Florence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim DeJong
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Executive Director ◽  
Community Support ◽  
Social Planning ◽  
Canadian Association ◽  
The Social ◽  
Community Organizer

Florence Philpott (1909–1992) was a Canadian social worker and leader in the field. Philpott worked as a caseworker, community organizer, educator, and she was involved in social planning and policy development. Philpott demonstrated strong leadership in community organizations concerned with poverty, homelessness, and unemployment. As executive director of the Social Planning Council of Metropolitan Toronto, she mobilized a Needs and Resources Study that exposed inadequate relief rates and insufficient community support. Philpott contributed to the professionalization of social work in Canada as executive director of the Canadian Association of Social Workers in Ottawa from 1964 to 1971. Her extensive volunteer and work experience in the field of social work illustrates her commitment to advocating better relief rates for those living in poverty, guiding organizations in resource allocation, and promoting the role of social workers in the community.

scholarly journals Resistance from within: social work within the community support sector of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph L. Durand
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
Community Support ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Recognition Theory ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Impact

This study examines the impact of surveillant care managerialism upon the practice of three social workers employed within the community support sector in Ontario health care. It applies the “Foucauldian Toolkit” of Jason L. Powell to examine the nature of the discourse shaping their practice and how they are both complicit and resistant to these discourses. It introduces recognition theory as counter discourse and argues that through the unique knowledge gained through relationships of respectful recognition that social workers act justly. Moreover it is argued that the relationships between social workers and their clients is the source of our unique knowledges as practitioners. Finally, this study examines the implications of social workers integrating a Foucauldian understanding of the reflexive relationship of power/knowledge and how through intersubjective relationships, we practice, create identities and serve the needs of justice even in a system and profession which does not acknowledge it as a requirement.

THEORETICAL BASIS OF PROBLEM OF SHAPING CREATIVE COMPETENCE IN FUTURE SOCIAL WORKERS FOR WORK WITH GIFTED CHILDREN

2019 ◽  
pp. 34-45
Author(s):  
Halyna Mykhailyshyn ◽  
Oksana Protas
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Theoretical Basis ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Gifted Children ◽  
Educational Establishment ◽  
Higher Educational

For effective forming of creative competence in future social work experts, we suggested using the creative approach to organization of educational process in a higher educational establishment, using the potential of different disciplines in the process of professional training. We clarified the main aspects of shaping of creative competence in future social workers in classroom and outside classroom, as well as main forms of the methodology of such training. The use of the mentioned approaches will give an opportunity to shape creative competence in future social workers for work with gifted children.

Facilitating Injustice

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoosun Park
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Mass Removal ◽  
Professional Obligations ◽  
The Past ◽  
Private Charity ◽  
Political Alliances ◽  
Major Shift

Social workers were involved in all aspects of the removal, incarceration, and resettlement of the Nikkei, a history that has been forgotten by social work. This study is an effort to address this lacuna. Social work equivocated. While it did not fully endorse mass removal and incarceration, neither did it protest, oppose, or explicitly critique government actions. The past should not be judged by today’s standards; the actions and motivations described here occurred in a period rife with fear and propaganda. Undergoing a major shift from its private charity roots into its public sector future, social work bounded with the rest of society into “a patriotic fervor.” While policies of a government at war, intractable bureaucratic structures, tangled political alliances, and complex professional obligations all may have mandated compliance, it is, nevertheless, difficult to deny that social work and social workers were also willing participants in the events, informed about and aware of the implications of that compliance. In social work’s unwillingness to take a resolute stand against removal and incarceration, the well-intentioned profession, doing its conscious best to do good, enforced the existing social order and did its level best to keep the Nikkei from disrupting it.

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