scholarly journals The establishment (and disestablishment) of social work in Britain

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-130
Author(s):  
Jonathan Parker
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Public Acceptance ◽  
Social Approval ◽  
Professional Integrity ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of

This paper presents a brief history of the development of social work in Britain, exploring some of the tensions that derive from gaining public acceptance and social establishment. This is analysed using the psychoanalytic concepts of ambivalence and displacement. The locus that social work enjoys as part of the establishment is shown to be ambivalent. The establishment of social work as an accepted public face of welfare is critiqued, showing both the benefits of acceptance and problems that arise from seeking social approval. The positioning of contemporary social work as sacrifice will also be considered. It is in the role of ‘sacrifice’ that social work maintains its public face – carrying away the transgressions of society and being loaded with guilt by society (displacement) – but sacrifice also offers a way forward to maintain professional integrity by walking alongside the marginalised, disadvantaged, stigmatised and social work, offering itself as an expiation on behalf of the people with whom social workers practise

‘[W]e Find Families for Children, Not Children for Families’: An Incident in the Long and Unhappy History of Relations between Social Workers and Adoptive Parents

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 415-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marian Quartly
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Adoptive Parents ◽  
Adoptive Parent ◽  
Inclusive Practice ◽  
Australian State ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

Relatively little work on adoption focuses on the role of social workers. This article gives an account of the conflict between social workers and prospective adoptive parents which developed in Australia in the 1970s, taking as a case study the conflicting roles of adoptive parent advocates and professional social workers within the Standing Committee on Adoption in the Australian state of Victoria. Its overarching concern lies with the historical attitudes of the social work profession towards adoption, both domestic and intercountry, as these have changed from an embrace of both adoption and adoptive parents to mutual alienation. It concludes that the inclusive practice of radical social work could only briefly contain contesting client groups.

Oral History and Social Work

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arlene Bowers Andrews
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Oral History ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Oral Histories ◽  
History Of

This article reviews basic skills for conducting and using oral histories, summarizes ethical issues, presents examples relevant to social work, and suggests useful resources. For social workers, oral history can be a way to record the history of social change as well as a means of promoting social change. Oral history can honor, inform, raise consciousness, and motivate action. Oral histories are particularly relevant for historically excluded populations and those with oral traditions. Generating the history requires a thorough awareness of the narrator, the story, and the role of the listener as well as skillful interviewing, use of digital technology, and appropriate archiving.

scholarly journals Trabajo social, sociopraxis y metodologías participativas: retos, oportunidades y transiciones de lo local a lo global

2020 ◽  
pp. 64
Author(s):  
Antonio Álvarez-Benavides
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Social Transformations ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Trabajo Social ◽  
History Of Social Work

La historia del trabajo social (TS) en España está condicionada por el papel de la Iglesia y del catolicismo en la concepción epistemológica y práctica de la asistencia social y del TS. Esta historia ha tenido una serie de consecuencias, como la tardía institucionalización de la profesión, las dificultades de su incorporación a las universidades y su equiparación con otras ciencias sociales. Estos procesos, a su vez, han provocado dos fenómenos que tienen una dimensión interna y externa: el asistencialismo y la protocolización. Sin embargo, un nuevo contexto de equiparación del TS con el resto de estudios universitarios a través del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (EEES) y las transformaciones sociales durante y después de la crisis económica invitan al replanteamiento de la profesión y de la ciencia. Este texto pretende ser una reflexión sobre las potencialidades de la sociopraxis y de las metodologías participativas en dicha reformulación, como puntos de partida y herramientas para plantear una nueva relación entre trabajadores/ as sociales y destinarios. Además, se analizarán las posibilidades de transformación social que promueven estas epistemologías y metodologías en la práctica profesional, formativa y académica del trabajador/a social en el ámbito local, comunitario y en la sociedad en su conjunto.The history of Social Work in Spain is conditioned by the role of Catholicism in the epistemological and practical conception of social assistance and social work. This history has had several consequences: late institutionalization and professionalization, and difficult incorporation to the universities compared to other social sciences. These processes have caused internal and external results: assistentialism and protocolization. However, a new context in which Social Work has been equated with university studies through the EHEA and social transformations due to the economic crisis invites us to rethink Social Work as a profession and as a science. This text aims to reflect on the potentialities of sociopraxis and participatory methodologies in such reformulation, as the starting points and tools to pose a new relation between social workers and stakeholders. It will also analyze the capacity of social transformation promoted by these epistemologies and methods in the social worker professional, formative, and academic practice in the local and communitarian sphere and the whole society.

scholarly journals Emotional intelligence as a part of critical reflection in social work practice and research

2021 ◽  
pp. 147332502110247
Author(s):  
Mari D Herland
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Intelligence ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Social Work Research ◽  
Emotional Aspects

Social workers often experience higher levels of burnout compared with other healthcare professionals. The capacity to manage one’s own emotional reactions efficiently, frequently in complex care settings, is central to the role of social workers. This article highlights the complexity of emotions in social work research and practice by exploring the perspective of emotional intelligence. The article is both theoretical and empirical, based on reflections from a qualitative longitudinal study interviewing fathers with behavioural and criminal backgrounds, all in their 40 s. The analysis contains an exploration of the researcher position that illuminates the reflective, emotional aspects that took place within this interview process. Three overall themes emerged – first: Recognising emotional complexity; second: Reflecting on emotional themes; and third: Exploring my own prejudices and preconceptions. The findings apply to both theoretical and practical social work, addressing the need to understand emotions as a central part of critical reflection and reflexivity. The argument is that emotions have the potential to expand awareness of one’s own preconceptions, related to normative societal views. This form of analytical awareness entails identifying and paying attention to one’s own, sometimes embodied, emotional triggers.

The Toolkit of Nationalist Populism in Contemporary Hungary: Symbols, Objects, and Modalities of Circulation

2021 ◽  
pp. 088832542095081
Author(s):  
Virág Molnár
Keyword(s):  
Political Communication ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Online Data ◽  
Everyday Objects ◽  
The People ◽  
Consumer Markets ◽  
History Of ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
Material Circulation

This article belongs to the special cluster, “National, European, Transnational: Far-right activism in the 20th and 21st centuries”, guest edited by Agnieszka Pasieka. Research on populism attributes great significance to mapping the distinctive discursive logic of populist reasoning (e.g., the trope of pitting corrupt elites against the people). This article aims to move beyond the primary focus on discursive structures to stress the role of symbols, objects, and different modalities of circulation in the political communication of populist ideas, using the case of Hungary. By tracing the history of one of the key symbols of nationalist populism—the image of “Greater Hungary”—from its emergence in the interwar period to its present-day use, the article shows how the meanings and material forms this symbol assumed in political communication that evolved under different political regimes. The analysis builds on extensive archival, ethnographic, and online data to highlight how the diversity of material forms and the conduits through which this image circulated have contributed to its endurance as a key political symbol. Symbols, like the Greater Hungary image, condense complex historical narratives into a powerful sign that can be easily objectified, reproduced, and diffused. Today’s differentiated consumer markets provide convenient conduits for this kind of material circulation. These symbols carry meaning in and of themselves as signs, and once they are turned into everyday objects, they facilitate the normalization of radical politics by increasing their salience and broad visibility.

The Role of Religious Force in the Wukan Incident

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hou Yuxin
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
The Political ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media ◽  
Social Management ◽  
The Village

Abstract The Wukan Incident attracted extensive attention both in China and around the world, and has been interpreted from many different perspectives. In both the media and academia, the focus has very much been on the temporal level of the Incident. The political and legal dimensions, as well as the implications of the Incident in terms of human rights have all been pored over. However, what all of these discussions have overlooked is the role played by religious force during the Incident. The village of Wukan has a history of over four hundred years, and is deeply influenced by the religious beliefs of its people. Within both the system of religious beliefs and in everyday life in the village, the divine immortal Zhenxiu Xianweng and the religious rite of casting shengbei have a powerful influence. In times of peace, Xianweng and casting shengbei work to bestow good fortune, wealth and longevity on both the village itself, and the individuals who live there. During the Wukan Incident, they had a harmonizing influence, and helped to unify and protect the people. Looking at the specific roles played by religion throughout the Wukan Incident will not only enable us to develop a more meaningful understanding of the cultural nature and the complexity of the Incident itself, it will also enrich our understanding, on a divine level, of innovations in social management.

Japanese Modernization and the Emergence of New Fictwn in Early Twentieth Century China: A Study of Liang Qichao

1995 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 817-840 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroko Willcock
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Literature ◽  
Small Circle ◽  
Late Qing ◽  
The Qing Dynasty ◽  
Liang Qichao ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Chinese Intellectuals ◽  
Artistic Quality

Inspired by Japanese influences among others the late Qing period saw a great surge in the writing of fiction after 1900. The rate of growth was unprecedented in the history of Chinese literature. The great surge coincided with rapid socio-political changes that China underwent in the last fifteen years of the Qing Dynasty. At the psychological level, the humiliating defeat by Japan in 1895 gave rise to a feeling of urgency for reform among some progressively minded Chinese intellectuals. Those reformers came to view fiction as a powerful medium to further their reform causes and to arouse among the people the awareness of the changes they believed China most urgently required. Fiction was no longer considered as constituting insignificant and trivial writings. It was no longer the idle pastime of retired literati composed to entertain a small circle of their friends, or written by a discontented recluse to vent a personal grudge through a brush. The role of fiction came to be defined in relation to its utility as an influence on politics and society and its artistic quality was subordinated to such a definition.

Continuity of care for drug users in prison and beyond: A qualitative insight

2021 ◽  
pp. 002087282110489
Author(s):  
Heino Stöver ◽  
Daniela Jamin ◽  
Marie Jauffret-Roustide ◽  
Laurent Michel ◽  
Vânia Mendes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Continuity Of Care ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
The People ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Opioid Users

Social work in prisons is linked to specific tasks regarding the care for the people who are incarcerated. A multi-country qualitative study was set up to explore drug users’ and professionals’ perceptions of continuity of care in prison and beyond. It has been pointed out that continuity of care is associated with different barriers, especially regarding social work. Nevertheless, good practice examples do exist and could be implemented by social workers. Social workers and opioid users face challenges in the context of imprisonment, so different measures need to be implemented to support opioid users and for social workers to support them.

Illegal Construction in Hanoi and Hanoi's Wards

2004 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Koh
Keyword(s):  
State Power ◽  
The State ◽  
The People ◽  
The Face ◽  
History Of ◽  
State Boundaries ◽  
Urban Administration ◽  
Ability And Willingness

AbstractIn the drama of negotiation of state boundaries, the role of local administrators as mediators is indispensable. They mediate between state demands for more discipline and societal demands for more liberties. Their ability and willingness to enforce determines the extent of state power. They are a particular type of elites chosen by the state to administer; yet often they have an irrational and morally corrupt relationship with their subjects. The questions that arise then are: When do the local administrators decide to or not to enforce the rules? What considerations do they hold in the face of contradicting demands for their loyalties? This paper seeks answers to the above questions by examining state enforcement of its construction rules in Hanoi after 1975, in which the ward, a level of local administrators in the urban administration landscape, plays an important role in holding up (or letting down) the fences. I will examine the irrationality of the housing regime that led to widespread offences against construction rules, and then show why and how local administrators may or may not enforce rules. This paper comprises two parts. The first part outlines the nature and history of the housing regime in Vietnam and the situation of state provision of housing to the people. These provide the context in which illegal construction arises. Part Two looks at illegal construction in Hanoi chronologically, and focuses on important episodes. The theme that runs through this paper is the role of local administrators in the reality of illegal construction.

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