Social Movements, Social Justice and Social Work

Correspondence to: Neil Thompson, Avenue Consulting Ltd, PO Box 2060, Wrexham LL13 OZG, Wales, UK. Summary This paper explores the relationship between social movements,social justice and social work. It examines the role of socialmovements in promoting social justice and considers the influencesof such movements in the development of emancipatory forms ofsocial work practice. It also considers the question of whethersocial work can be viewed as a form of social movement in itsown right. A central theme of the paper is the fundamental tensionbetween social work as a force for social regulation and asa force for social development and emancipation.     

Social Exclusion, Inequality and Social Work

This paper sets out the environment of inequality in which social work and the poor have recently operated. It explores pragmatic and idealist arguments concerning whether or not the poor need social work. Finally, policy solutions developed in consultation with social service users and carers are suggested in relation to poverty and social exclusion. Social exclusion can be linked to relative poverty as exclusion from economic and social norms. However, there is a wider brief in our own government’s publications and those of Europe, of examining how people are excluded from actions and policies of agencies who are there to support them. This paper will retain the concepts of poverty as lack of material income, and inequality as the gap between the rich and the poor, while being aware of the policy implications for social service users and carers of the more comprehensive process of being shut out partially or fully from social, economic, political and cultural systems. The debates around social work, social exclusion and inequality that follow establish: that some of the poor do need social work; that the poverty of social service users is related to policies that have restructured welfare in Britain; that the reason for individuals approaching or being referred to social services are complex but are likely to include financial deprivation as a key contributory factor; that if the poor do need social work, advocacy is essential rather than social work being seen as concerned only with social control—taking children into care, mentally ill people into hospitals, and advising the DSS on the suitability of claimants for benefits. Finally, the discussion turns to new policy agendas on social exclusion instigated by the Labour government. What positive difference can such policies make for social service users, their carers and social workers?.     

Recognizing Social Work

There has been little interest until recently in the questionof whether social work has the characteristics of an academicdiscipline. This article offers a synopsis of issues arisingfrom a review of social work and social care research fundedthrough the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). Followinga brief scene setting, the first main section of the articlegives a synopsis of the social work and social care community’sexperience and judgements regarding their engagement with theresearch council. In the second part of the article, we reviewrelevant policies, structures and trends from an ESRC and socialscience perspective. We focus on the development of researchprogrammes, followed by an outline of the delivery and implementationof programmes. In the final section, we review the issues, themesand directions that emerged from the project. These includejudgements of research relevance, research users, research utilization,the social work contribution to the development of researchmethods, inter-disciplinary research, the question of whetherthere are distinctive attributes of social work research, researchcapacity, career building, priority setting, and the outcomesof social work funding bids. We also reflect on the developmentand delivery of research programmes, and the implications ofthe invisibility of social work research within the ESRC. Disciplineswithin universities are not fixed and abiding realities. ‘Recognizing’social work is a dynamic, socially negotiated process, shapedby the construction and ordering of knowledge claims withinsocial work and social science communities, and reflecting powerdifferentials that are mediated through structural mechanismsthat tend to exclude new ‘claimants’ such as socialwork. We include a number of recommendations, and suggest waysin which the issues may have relevance beyond the UK.     

Social Workers' Perceptions of Training Preparedness and Social Justice Norms on Workplace Empowerment

This study examined the relationship between (a) social workers' perceptions of preparedness to perform in their professional roles and perceived social justice behaviors at work and (b) workers' sense of workplace empowerment. A sample of 152 currently licensed social workers responded to web or mailed surveys. Respondents were more likely to perceive having workplace empowerment related to meaning in their work if they reported their social work program training prepared them for their professional roles. Perceived social justice behaviors at work were associated with workers' experiencing empowerment related to the impact they had at work. Social workers' sense of training preparedness and experiencing social justice at work can positively influence workers' perceived empowerment. Enforcing the importance of engaging in social justice with clients in social work education, both in class and in field placements, has the potential for long-lasting effects on empowerment in students' future workplaces. Agency-level management should ensure continuity in social justice activities to enhance feelings of workplace empowerment, which may help social workers connect with clients. Future research should examine elements of social work programs that promote feelings of empowerment in order to understand how the same approach can be used in models of continuing education and organizational management.     

A Case for Social Work Evaluation of Social Work Education

Correspondence to Imogen Taylor, Research Fellow, Department of Social Work, University of Bristol, 8 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1TN Summary This paper discusses the importance of evaluation of socialwork education by social work researchers, particularly giventhe increasing demands from different interest groups for socialwork courses to demonstrate effectiveness. It is noted that educational researchers are dominating thefield of educational evaluation, yet it is crucial for the survivalof social work that social work education be evaluated by socialwork researchers. Both the tools and the outcome of such evaluationwill shape the future of social work education and social workitself. Recognizing that cross fertilization of ideas between disciplinesis essential, a model for social work evaluation is proposedwhich is derived from models developed by other disciplinesand integrated with social work practice theory. The resultingresearch model draws a number of parallels between researchand practice, bringing together two groups which are often distantand distinct. The model also brings researcher and user closertogether. The model is analysed in light of its applicationto the evaluation of Enquiry and Action Learning, an innovativeapproach to social work education implemented by the Departmentof Social Work, University of Bristol. Central government funding must be available to ensure systematicand rigorous evaluation of social work education rather thanthe piecemeal research possible so far.     

论加强社会工作与创新社会管理体靛

社会工作是创新社会管理体制的关键环节.因为加强社会工作是化解社会工作的重要手段,是健全社会利益协调机制的客观要求,是实现弱势群体权益保护的有力杠杆.要加强社会管理,创新社会管理体制,就必须大力推进社会工作的快速发展.要推进社会工作的快速发展,就必须坚持政府主导,实现社会工作的专业化、职业化发展;整合社会资源,建立以社区...     

Beyond Social Constructionism: Critical Realism and Social Work

Summary Theories within the social and psychological sciences continueto shape social work practice. However, recent debates withinthese sciences on the shortcomings of ‘social constructionism’,and the attempt to overcome them through a critical realistposition, have so far failed to capture social work's attention.This paper provides a critical overview of these theoreticaldebates, highlighting the shortcomings of social constructionismfor social work. The critical realist challenge to social constructionism,as articulated by the British philosopher Roy Bhaskar, is consideredand its relevance to social work formulated in terms of a returnto ‘depth’ in practice.     

Viewing Spirituality in Social Work through the Lens of Contemporary Social Theory

This paper locates the social work literature on spiritualitywithin the broad theoretical and epistemological perspectivesof late modernity. It focuses particularly on the rise of individualismand its culmination in the theory of reflexive modernization—lifepolitics and subpolitics—and makes an appeal for an ‘ecospiritualsocial work’—one which would take social work awayfrom individualism back to its communitarian roots. The riseof spirituality in social work is linked to individualism. Bothresult from the depersonalizing and alienating effects of modernity:the detraditionalization and secularization of society; therise of science, rationality, the professions, and industrialand technological progress; and the decline in religion. Socialwork mirrors this process in that it has worked vigorously toshake off its religious, moralistic beginnings, and to embracethe secular trappings of professionalism in the process increasinglyembracing highly individualistic values and scientific explanationsof reality. The literature on spirituality in social work, inwhich the influence of New Age spirituality is strongly evident,tries to re-instantiate our search for quality and meaning.However, social work has yet to examine broader sociologicaltheory and the way in which it can deepen our understandingof the rise of spirituality in social work.     

Social Work for Social Fitness

Summary Social work has lost the perspective of social relationshipsas ends in themselves, and has become predominantly an impersonal,individualistic technology. Several interpersonal dimensionsare outlined to help fill this social value vacuum, and it issuggested that these can be held together by the concept ofsocial fitness. This is defined as the mutual development ofthe individual and his total network to a fullness of identitywhich is an end in itself and does not depend on the achievementof any other objectives. The kind of power produced by thisfitness is distinguished from power of the impersonal kind,and its meaning for social workers is discussed in relationto material need. Finally, the future development of socialwork is considered briefly in terms of promoting social fitnessthrough work with various kinds of social networks.     

社会工作视角下的失地农民社会保障问题研究

失地农民的出现,使建立失地农民社会保障制度迫在眉睫。本文通过从社会工作视角界定失地农民,分析失地农民社会保障问题,提出了社会工作视角下解决失地农民社会保障问题的新思路,即,将失地农民社会保障纳入社会工作实务;为失地农民提供法律援助和心理咨询服务;总结失地农民社会保障的执行经验,提出修订建议。     

Ethical Beliefs of Social Work Researchers

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the beliefs of social work researchers about ethical practices. Surveys were mailed to a random sample of 240 members of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) to elicit their views about ethical practices in social work research. Responses from 160 members (67% response rate) yielded information regarding the appropriateness of dual relationships, authorship practices, informed consent procedures, and other conduct in social work research. Age, gender, educational level, years of social work research experience, and current teaching of social work research were related to respondents' ethical views about practices with students and sexual relationships with research subjects. The need for additional resources on ethics in social work research is highlighted.     

The 'Subject' in Social Work

Summary Theories of social work are usually defined by reference totheir oppositions regarding the subject in social work and theaims of practice. This position connects up with a dominantview of theories of social work which regards them as opponentsengaged in a struggle to dominate the field. This paper characterizesthis view as a ‘gladiatorial paradigm’ It assaysthe vaidity of this paradigm. lists the main defects, and setsout the case for a structuralist approach to social work.     

Social Work, Social Science and Practice Wisdom

Correspondence to Michael Sheppard, Department of Applied Social Science, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA. Summary Social work has for some time had an ambiguous and ambivalentrelationship with its social science knowledge base. However,this has arisen, at least in part, because of the emphasis onthe outcome or product of social science rather than the processby which research is conducted. This paper, focusing on assessment,argues that an emphasis on process goes some way to closingthe gap between social science and social work, that the methodsused by social researchers are, in many respects, simply refinementsof the methodology of everyday life, and that social workers,when conducting assessments operate rather like practical qualitativeresearchers. Using Analytical Induction as an heuristic device,it proceeds to explore critical characteristics of good practicein social work assessments. It concludes that practice shouldbe characterized by critical awareness, involving imaginativedevelopment of alternative hypotheses, a sceptical attitudetowards case assessments and a principle of adopting hypothesesleast likely to be in error.     

Agency Function and Social Work Principles

Summary The concept of agency function is examined in relation to thenature of the social work task. It is often the case that agencyfunction is seen more as a problem for social work and not asone of its characteristics. It is argued in this paper thatthe agency itself is not responsible for the apparently delicatestate of present day social work, but that on the contrary,the failure to appreciate social work's relationship to societyand social processes in part accounts for its uncertain condition.     

State Social Work and Social Citizenship in Britain: From Clientelism to Consumerism

Correspondence to John Harris, University of Warwick, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK. E-mail: J.Harris{at}warwick.ac.uk Summary Marshall's formulation of ‘social citizenship’ embodieda depoliticized understanding of what was seen as a given, progressiveand irreversible stage of societal development, which encompassedthe provision of state social work. A consequence of this approachwas the failure to situate social citizenship in a specificpolitical and policy context; in Marshall's case, the post-warBritish social democratic welfare state. Within this, a morecentral position was secured for state social work, throughits unification and incorporation into bureau-professional regimeswhich were made responsible for responding to citizens' socialneeds as clients of the state. The New Right's attack on theinstitutionalization of social citizenship in bureau-professionalregimes included the accusation that state social work had infringedservice users' rights and produced a passive, dependent clientele.The New Right's alternative formulation of the ‘consumer-citizen’led to the development of a new political consensus on socialcitizenship. Beginning from an acceptance of this consensus,procedural rights are seen as one way of extending social citizenshipin state social work and as a precursor to the possibility ofwider participation by service users in its provision.     

Social Policy for Social Work: A Teaching Agenda

Though social justice is a central goal of the social work profession,the actual involvement of social workers in social change isvery limited. Moreover, training in social policy and policypractice in schools of social work is minimal. As such, practitionerslack the tools needed to analyse existing social problems andpolicies and to enable them to intervene in the policy processin order to better serve the needs of service users. This articleseeks to further social policy teaching within social work educationby engaging in a survey of the existing literature on the subjectand by offering a detailed programme for integrating this subjectinto the social work training system. The literature surveythat serves as a basis for this programme includes a reviewof studies on the dilemmas linked to social policy teaching,on the goals and content of social policy courses in socialwork and on preferred teaching methods in this field.     

Who Leaves Social Work?

Summary Turnover and wastage rates among social work staff are highand subject to marked variation between grades, locations andlocal authorities. Such high rates have a number of deleteriouseffects on the quality of social work, and consequently on clients,on the costs of delivering personal social services and on thegeneral administration and organization of social care. Employingdata on 13,750 basic grade field social workers employed byEnglish and Welsh local authority social services departmentsin 1974–75, turnover and wastage rates were predictedusing information on the personal characteristics of employeesand the workplace locations. The analyses revealed the importanceof age, sex, educational background, social work qualifications,length of service and workplace in determining the probabilitiesof changing social work jobs and leaving social work completely.     

Embedding Social Justice within Micro Social Work Curricula

Social work struggles with the dichotomy between social and economic justice and micro practice. A large percentage of United States social workers (65%) practice in micro practice settings, yet the profession is challenged to commit to its social justice roots. This article reviews the history of social and economic justice within the social work profession, examines the role of distributive justice, and outlines strategies to integrate social and economic justice into micro social work courses. The article details implications for strengthening a social and economic justice perspective in micro curricula.     

社会工作职业化与社会政策

社会工作职业化目前在中国存在社会认同度不高、专业服务组织机构欠缺、社会工作职业制度不健全、高校人才培养与实际部门不衔接以及本土化的社会工作理论亟待建立等问题。社会政策作为支持弱势群体、解决社会问题、促进社会公正的制度化模式,从政府的政策性角色和社会立法这两个维度出发来解决社会工作职业化过程中面临的问题,在推进社会工作职业化进程中起着举足轻重的作用。     

Social Gerontology and Social Work

Summary This paper reviews developments in the study of ageing as anindividual and social experience and it considers recent studiesof practical services for the elderly. In so doing it aims tohighlight the ways in which social work skills and helping techniquescan be developed. It also relates the findings of studies ofservice delivery to the elderly to the development of futurepolicy.