Social Work, Precarity and Sacrifice as Radical Action for Hope

Parker, Jonathan

doi:10.13189/ijrh.2018.060203

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…However, as we suggest elsewhere, it is important to avoid developing a mythology of the social worker as saviour, or to place faith in charisma and personality rather than a shared praxis (Parker, 2018).…”

Section: Social Worker As Martyr In Solidaritymentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Ambivalence as a dialectic allows for a positive portrayal of sacrifice. As we have argued elsewhere, it is in the role of 'sacrifice' that social work maintains its public facecarrying away the transgressions of society and being loaded with guilt by society (displacement) (Parker, 2018). Sacrifice also offers a way forward to maintain professional integrity by walking in solidarity with marginalised, disadvantaged and stigmatised people -social work offering itself as an expiation on behalf of the people with whom social workers practise.…”

Section: Sacrifice Social Work and The Dialectic Of Ambivalencementioning

confidence: 99%

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The establishment (and disestablishment) of social work in Britain

Parker¹

2020

JCSW

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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

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Section: Social Worker As Martyr In Solidaritymentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Sacrifice Social Work and The Dialectic Of Ambivalencementioning

confidence: 99%

The establishment (and disestablishment) of social work in Britain

Parker¹

2020

JCSW

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Towards Democratising Social Knowledge: A Political–Economic Analysis of the Departments of Social Work in Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences

Repetti

2022

The British Journal of Social Work

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In Switzerland, the relatively new social work departments are located in so-called universities of applied sciences (UASs), which provide a university-based and practice-oriented education. At the beginning, UASs were required to carry out ‘applied’ research and their teaching had to be ‘non-academic’, unlike in traditional universities. Although this definition is no longer present in the legal framework of tertiary education, it shapes policymakers’ representations. In reality, research and teaching agendas in UAS departments of social work have become similar to those of the social sciences departments in traditional universities. However, two aspects differentiate them from their counterparts in traditional universities and from other UAS departments today: Less research funding is available and social work students are more likely to accumulate socio-economic disadvantages compared to elsewhere. In this article, I discuss the role of social work departments in Switzerland, with a focus on the social knowledge they produce and transfer into teaching programmes and society. In addition, I use Arendt’s thoughts about knowledge, education and democracy to reflect on the existing gap between political representations of—and what takes place in—UAS departments of social work in Switzerland. The article ends with recommendations for policymakers in Switzerland and abroad.

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The precarious helping hand – a systematic review of precarity faced by social workers

Lai,

He,

Lau

2024

Preprint

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Precarity as an academic concept started with researching the working-class in marginal positions (e.g., construction workers). It extended its focus to ontological insecurity and skilled workers such as journalists. The problematic working conditions featured by insufficient funding and overloads by the social work (SW) profession have been one type of skilled work under the threat of precarization. Yet, there is insufficient dialogue between the two concepts. Studies (n = 14) were selected by searching through five social science databases using the search terms combination of “precarity” OR “precarization” OR “precariousness” AND “social work” OR “social worker”. Findings suggest a large 61-item precarity occurred to the SW profession, such as job insecurity and alienation from professional roles, across the dimensions of contextual factors driven precarity, employment conditions, job content, skill reproduction, and outcomes on client relationships. This review shows that four sub-groups of SWs face deeper precarity: those employed in private settings, younger SWs, SW placement students, and bilingual SWs. SW educators are also found to be in a precarious position, threatening the skill reproduction of the industry. The review summarizes that SW precarization has been seriously understudied, and therefore we recommend that more research, with multiple types of data and longitudinal design, in Asian and African regions, should be conducted by adopting the theoretical lenses of lived experience and collection of multiple types of data with a longitudinal perspective taken into account.

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Social Work, Precarity and Sacrifice as Radical Action for Hope

Cited by 3 publications

References 30 publications

The establishment (and disestablishment) of social work in Britain

The establishment (and disestablishment) of social work in Britain

Towards Democratising Social Knowledge: A Political–Economic Analysis of the Departments of Social Work in Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences

The precarious helping hand – a systematic review of precarity faced by social workers

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