Applying the social model in practice: some lessons from countryside recreation

This paper draws on the researcher's experiences as a countryside access advisor in exploring some of the ways that social model ideas can influence the development of organizational policy and practice in mainstream settings. It argues that, in seeking to influence the development of more inclusive policies and practices, disability studies needs to look for new ways of engaging with diverse audiences of practitioners who are used to operating within an individual model of disability, and who may therefore see no immediate organizational advantages to adopting social model principles in their work. This evolutionary process demands in particular that we work constantly towards finding new, more accessible, ways of explaining social model ideas to mainstream audiences. Thus, in a social climate that continues to tolerate disabled people's oppression, disability studies has a key role to play in demonstrating to theorists, policy-makers and practitioners why and how social model ideas can support the move towards inclusion.     

Voice,authenticity and ethical challenges: the participatory dissemination of youth-generated visual data over social media

Using the theoretical frameworks of childhood studies and visual ethics, this article explores ethical ways of engaging children and young people in disseminating self-generated visual data (‘participatory dissemination’) over social media. The discussion draws on a research project carried out with a group of young people in an underserved community in South Africa. The project was an educational intervention that aimed to enable the participants to bring out their experiences with the HIV and AIDS pandemic in South Africa and to reflect on related issues through participatory video making. The methodological focus was on exploring visual ethics in the context of participatory dissemination. Despite a growing interest in social media, few studies have been conducted in relation to ethics in using social media as an outlet to disseminate visual data created by young people. This article contributes to addressing this knowledge gap. It is argued that (1) the process of remaking visual data can enhance the ethics of dissemination by offering young participants an opportunity to reflect on self-representation more carefully and (2) the verbal contextualisation of participant-generated visual data can contribute to a further clarification of young people’s ideas, thereby making dissemination more ethical. I am cautious, however, to overstate the significance of disseminating young people’s verbal and visual expressions without researchers’ discretion because such expressions may contribute to stigmatising the young people.     

Publics,We Need You! Social Work Researchers and Educators as Public Sociologists

The recent revival of public sociology has created a unique space for social work researchers within its enterprise. As public sociologists, we are committed to engaging various publics that invigorate our work and hold us accountable. As social work researchers, we are specifically committed to engaging disenfranchised publics given our pursuit of social justice. Using examples from the USA, I discuss practical ways in which social work researchers can engage publics while still remaining connected to the academy.     

“Why Would Our Heavenly Father Do that to Anyone”: Oppressive Othering through Sexual Classification Schemes in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter‐Day Saints

In this article, we examine how leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter‐Day Saints (LDS or LDS Church) responded to the emergence of homosexuality as a prominent social issue by engaging in “oppressive othering” (Schwalbe et al. 2000 ), which refers to the process whereby elites classify members of other groups as morally inferior. On the basis of LDS archival materials, we analyze how LDS elites accomplished “oppressive othering” by constructing sexual classification schemes defining homosexuality as the result of (1) familial, (2) gendered, and (3) sexual dysfunctions. In conclusion, we draw out implications for understanding (1) how elites, religious, or otherwise, construct sexual classification schemes that facilitate the ongoing subordination of sexual minorities, (2) the importance of taking an intersectional approach to oppressive othering, and (3) the ways elites revise institutional doctrines in response to shifting societal issues and concerns.     

Working the Project: Research Proposals and Everyday Practices for Emerging Feminist Researchers

Seeking to support graduate students in engaging in feminist sociological research, we provide guidance on “working the project”—working collaboratively and creatively to foster compassion and solidarity as we bring diverse research projects to fruition. We offer reflections on our everyday experiences and struggles as emerging feminist researchers, including with writing research proposals. We also include four condensed research proposals ‐ on the social organization of care work, sex work, criminal justice, and abortion care ‐ to support fellow students in the process. Spurring collaborative, fun and inclusive ways of working, we speak to feminist scholar‐activists who may require additional support in navigating the social relations of academe, while contributing to collective projects of investigating and remaking the social organization of everyday life.     

Teaching cultural humility for social workers serving LGBTQI Aboriginal communities in Australia

ABSTRACT

It is well documented that colonization and subsequent repressive policies have wrought devastating changes in the lives of Aboriginal people in Australia. Social workers are an essential group for improving social justice and self-determination for Australian Aboriginal people. The Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) acknowledges that Aboriginal people make a unique contribution to the life of the nation and mandates that social work educational programs provide culturally responsive content that acknowledges the value and contributions of Aboriginal people. Social work educators need to embed this content without reinforcing stereotypes or being tokenistic. This is a challenge when teaching about intersecting identities, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and intersex (LGBTQI) Aboriginal people. We outline the terms used in this space and propose that cultural humility is an acceptable framework to consider. We introduce key conceptual terms used in LGBTQI Aboriginal communities. Finally, we provide recommendations for engaging with LGBTQI Aboriginal peoples.     

Clients as Teachers: Reciprocal Influences in Therapy Relationships

The value of the continuing education industry for therapists is questioned, as is the usefulness of therapy books and journal articles, as a means of engaging therapists in life‐long learning. Instead, it is argued that our clients are our best teachers and that therapists learn most effectively from their clients. Drawing on research studies with prominent theoreticians and therapists, and on case studies from clinical work, a number of important themes are identified as ways in which therapists are influenced by their therapeutic encounters with their clients. The themes explored in this article include: (1) intimacy and high emotional arousal with clients as we witness profound change; (2) being challenged by clients; and (3) allowing for boundary ‘crossings’ in order to develop more flexible ways of working with clients. The implications for professional development are discussed.     

Patterns of engagement: identities and social movement organizations in Finland and Malawi

Based on interviews with climate-change activists and NGO workers in Finland and Malawi, this article reconsiders the ways in which the coordination of identity projects and action is approached in social movement scholarship. Rather than beginning with personal and collective identities, we take our cue from recent work by Laurent Thévenot and trace actors’ forms of engagement—the various ways actors produce commonality. As we show, doing so in vastly different social contexts allows us to see permutations in such forms afforded by participation in a transnational social movement and to identify patterns of collective action that we would otherwise be apt to miss. Finnish activists narrated their activities by way of engaging in the forms of the common good driving the climate movement, but coordinated various situations also through engagement in familiarity, comfort, and ease. Malawian activists and NGO employees also spoke of the common good the movements worked to achieve, but principally created common ground by engaging in shared individual choices and projects, which were jointly consecrated by fellow NGO participants. Ultimately, we argue that tracing forms of engagement enables more in-depth understanding of what is at stake when people act together in social movement organizations: moving away from collective and personal identity to patterns of engagement allows a vantage point into the processes through which commonality is created and generates new hypotheses regarding the coordination of action in social movement organizations.     

Clicking Toward Better Grades: The Use of Student Response Systems in Social Work Education

Faculty members at universities are increasingly shifting their pedagogical focus from traditional lectures to active learning by integrating academic technology such as clickers (i.e., student response systems) into classrooms. However, few studies have examined the effect of clickers on learning outcomes such as test grades, and even fewer studies have evaluated this technology in social work education. This study examined the effect of clickers on learning outcomes in an undergraduate social work course. Findings indicated that frequency of clicker use significantly contributed to increased test scores after controlling for important covariates, suggesting that clickers may be an effective tool in actively engaging social work students and promoting learning. Instructors guidelines for integrating technology into future social work courses are discussed.     

Whom Should We Serve? A Discourse Analysis of Social Workers’ Commentary on Undocumented Immigrants

We present a discourse analysis of social work practitioners’ commentaries on undocumented immigrants that were collected from a survey of practicing social workers’ attitudes toward immigration and immigrants. Analyzing 198 open-ended comments, we explore the discursive mechanisms practitioners employ to construct undocumented immigrants, and their professional responsibilities toward them. These views are illustrative of the ways in which the profession determines inclusion and exclusion, writ large in national immigration policies and laws and played out in the arenas of social work and social services. Disparate views of practitioners highlight tensions in the profession's relationships to law and social policies as well as to its own ethics and identity.     

Habermas and Social Movement Theory

This article outlines Habermas' social movement–related ideas and reviews the critical reception of them from within critical theory and social movement studies more widely. Criticism of Habermas' explanation of the new social movements has been wide-ranging and persuasive. There have however been some contemporary critical engagements with Habermas' ideas within social movement studies. The direction they take suggests (1) the concept of 'colonisation' finds political relevance in the twenty-first century context of global capitalism and resistance to neo-liberal policies; (2) that recent engagements with Habermas loosely unite in a concern with the 'applied turn' in critical theory; and (3) there is some potential for aspects of Habermas' theory to be used in ways that make him capable of engaging in dialogue with the current concerns of social movement theory.     

Young subjectivities and affective labour in the service economy

Post-Fordist employment is characterised by the demand for new forms of labour in which workers are expected to make personal investments in their work and to mobilise their embodied subjectivities in the practice of labour. Whilst employment insecurity is well documented in the sociology of youth, theoretical development in this area has yet to contend with the role of changes in the nature of labour itself in the production of youth. This paper draws on theories of labour under post-Fordism to explore the practice of ‘affective labour’ amongst young people performing ‘front of house’ bar work in a large metropolitan service economy. The paper theorises the role of youth subjectivities – including capacities for relationality and leisure, gendered embodiment, and tastes – in the practice of contemporary labour. The paper describes how young people doing bar work contribute to the production of affective atmospheres, or sensations of ease, pleasure and enjoyment that are offered to clientele of boutique bars. In this, we suggest that affective labour mobilises young subjectivities at work in ways that are currently unrecognised within youth studies. The paper concludes by suggesting a new research agenda that goes beyond the existing focus on youth transitions through employment to explore how youth is produced as part of the social dynamics of post-Fordist labour.     

‘Do you really want me to tell ya!’ critical learning in engaging young people in contact with the justice system as peer educators with social work students

ABSTRACT

This paper outlines and evaluates an active and experiential learning project, which gave young people involved with the justice system, a voice as peer educators engaging with social work students outside of the traditional educational institution. The project had two key interconnecting elements. Firstly, by engaging a hidden population of young people in a realistic and meaningful way, it enabled them to share their experiences, and allowed students to understand the complexity of what it means to be socially excluded. Secondly, through this active participation process the young people began to see education as a desirable goal.

The project took place over three months and included 10 social work students and 13 young people involved with the justice system. Creative use of multimedia facilitated production of a learning resource to capture the young people’s lived experiences with statutory social work and justice systems. Young people were fundamentally challenged in their beliefs about themselves being involved in education to achieve a qualification. Students were challenged in their creativity and versatility responding to the task, when collaborating with ‘hard to reach’ young people. They were furthermore challenged in terms of their attitudes and assumptions in relation to offending and social justice.     

Spirituality-Based Social Work Values for Empowering Human Service Organizations

Abstract

This paper is based on three premises: (1) Spirituality is seen as an asset from which the client system draws its innate strengths to empower itself, (2) Just as it is important for social work clients to build on individual spiritual strengths to overcome personal challenges, it is equally crucial for human service organizations to implement spirituality-based professional values in organizational contexts, and (3) Spirituality issues need to be examined from the perspective of macro social work education. Based on these premises, the goal of this paper is to construct a conceptual framework that links spirituality-based social work values to empowerment strategies that can be employed in macro social work practice. Adding to the existing dimensions of social work knowledge relating to spirituality, this paper examines spirituality as empowerment issues. Also, the author explores spirituality-centered social work skills, focusing on organizational management and leadership skills.     

Young people with complex needs meet complex organizations: an interview study with Swedish professionals about sustainable work practices

ABSTRACT

This paper concerns preconditions for the well-being of young people with mental ill-health combined with social vulnerabilities, also referred to as youth with complex needs. Research questions are: What barriers to sustainable work practices for young people labelled as having complex needs do professionals encounter? What do professionals identify as possible ways to overcome these barriers? Sustainable work practices are reflected in three themes: empowerment, relationships and collaboration. The findings are based on semi-structured interviews with 24 professionals, 3 men and 21 women, working in psychiatric care and the social services in two Swedish municipalities in 2016 and 2017. Major barriers are lack of continuity and co-ordination in staff and support, and fragmentation of work practices. As a consequence of the increased specialization of human service organizations, young people have to interact with many different professionals which could cause disparate interventions. Possible ways mentioned to overcome these barriers are supported through good interactional skills, using keyworkers as well therapeutic alliances, wrap-around services and case management. Complexity is linked to organizations and work practices rather than to young people. An often dysfunctional service delivery system in organizations with rigid boundaries may also affect professionals’ aim for sustainable support.     

Forget Cultural Competence; Ask for an Autobiography

Recent management practices seek to standardize and routinize practice through formulaic assessment processes and casework to ensure risk minimization and cost effectiveness. Such pressures have become entrenched in social work practice in Australia and other economically developed societies. Under such regimes cultural competence is rendered as expert knowledge about the other to be acquired and applied in ways to ensure maximum efficiency. But working effectively across racial and cultural differences demands critical reflection on one's own position and the complex interactions between different aspects of identity. While some versions of cultural competence incorporate the need to examine our own values and behaviours, the paper argues that rather than focusing on knowledge of differences, social workers should concentrate on critically listening to our clients' autobiographies to reveal over time what aspects of their social and cultural lives matter to them. The paper reviews findings from teaching Australian social work undergraduate and graduate students engaging with these challenges with particular reference to working effectively with Indigenous people.     

Seeking Connection Versus Avoiding Disappointment: An Experimental Manipulation of Approach and Avoidance Sexual Goals and the Implications for Desire and Satisfaction

Previous correlational research has demonstrated an association between people’s reasons for having sex (i.e., their sexual goals) and their sexual desire and sexual and relationship satisfaction. Across two studies of people in romantic relationships (N = 396) we extend previous research and demonstrate, for the first time, that manipulating the salience of approach sexual goals (i.e., engaging in sex to pursue positive outcomes, such as enhanced intimacy) compared to avoidance sexual goals (i.e., engaging in sex to avert negative outcomes, such as a partner’s disappointment) or a control condition leads people to feel higher sexual desire for their romantic partners and to report higher sexual and relationship satisfaction. In addition, in Study 2 we demonstrate that focusing on approach sexual goals over the course of a week leads people to report more satisfying sexual experiences during that week, as well as higher desire and overall relationship satisfaction, compared to a control group. The current findings advance approach–avoidance theory by providing evidence that it is possible to manipulate people’s sexual goals and, in turn, impact their feelings of desire and satisfaction. Results are promising for the development of interventions to promote sexual and relational well-being.     

Positioning,strategizing, and charming: how students with autism construct identities in relation to disability

Contrary to views that young people with the label of autism are incapable of engaging in collective cultural practice, this article examines how they construct identities through social interactions to belong, compete, and participate. In a multi-sited ethnography of high school students with disabilities, we focused on two students as they move across contexts of school, debate team, and home. Over two years of interviews and participant observation, these students demonstrated nuanced efforts to distance themselves from the ‘autistic’ label. These acts of positioning illuminated how they negotiate identities with the knowledge their interactions shape how people perceive their participation in different contexts. By following them across informal and formal environments, we could see how they transition across multiple social worlds and appreciate the combined power these contexts have on youth identity.     

“Queer Eye” for Social Work: Rethinking Pedagogy and Practice with Same-sex Attracted Young People

Abstract

Dominant discourses on sexualities construct limited representations and understanding of same-sex attracted young people, often resulting in material and detrimental effects for young people who do not fit the heterosexual mould. Traditionally, social work theory and practice with same-sex attracted young people has relied on ethnic and essentialised models for understanding sexual difference. In the present article, the author reviews current literature on same-sex attracted young people and sexualities, arguing that key elements from queer theory invite social workers to rethink pedagogy and practice with sexually diverse groups. With its critical eye for deconstructing dominant models of sexuality, queer theory provides an alternative framework for informing social work practice. Implications for working in narrative ways with same-sex attracted young people through co-authorship are discussed.