Do families in poverty need child and family social work?

This article attempts to contribute to the historically relevant debate about the role of social work in poverty situations, focusing on the emblematic and radical question whether the poor actually need social work. In the context of the currently dominant policy framework in European welfare states, that is underpinned by the emerging paradigm of social investment, we argue that it is extremely relevant to readdress this question. Within this development, the eradication of child poverty has been considered a key target of poverty reduction strategies and child and family social work has consequently been assigned a pivotal role in the fight against the intergenerational transmission of poverty. We demonstrate that the rhetoric of social investment has found a practical implementation in social work constructing the problem of poverty in terms of education and activation of both the child and the individual parent. Based on an extensive review of literature, we discuss underlying assumptions, consequences and pitfalls of the paradigm of social investment for social work and tease out whether, and on which conditions, poor families need child and family social work.     

A qualitative analysis of migrant social workers’ work experiences and perceived prejudice from an empowering acculturative integration approach

An increasing number of migrant social workers are employed in the UK social work sector. This article explores the acculturative integration experiences of a small group of migrant social workers. We critically observe that research on migrant professionals’ trajectories should adopt theories that emphasise people’s empowerment and potential for agency. We use a framework drawing on liberation psychology for analysing the autobiographical narratives of a sample of migrant social workers employed in England. Findings indicate that the participants perceived prejudice on a number of occasions and circumstances. Even though in their narrative of survival they talked about activating several psychosocial resources, they were skeptical about their professional development and dissatisfied at work. The paper discusses the emerging findings while highlighting the framework’s relevance for understanding these experiences from an empowering acculturation perspective and suggesting ways of improving migrant social workers’ acculturative integration by addressing systemic barriers.     

Wenn alle tatsächlich in einem Boot sitzen — Eine Studie zur Identifikation mit der Schule im Kontext einer erlebnispädagogischen Gruppenerfahrung

We report on the results of an experience-pedagogic project on the identification of pupils from a technical school with their classes and school. The analysis is done from a perspective of organisational psychology and group dynamics, which is influenced by the social Identity Approach. It is stipulated that the experiences of a communal out-of-school activity strengthens the organisational identification. Additionally, it is verified whether the attitudes of the pupils towards their classes, and the participation in lessons, changes by influence of the project. The study shows a positive effect of this experience on organisational identity, attitudes toward the school, and behavioural intentions.     

Taking the measure: a participatory approach to measuring and monitoring psychological empowerment in social work practices

For years, the professional field has been searching for methods that could be used to chart the effectiveness of social services. Social workers report that their current systems for registration and measurement do not provide an accurate reflection of their practice. The measurement of client empowerment might offer an alternative method that could improve the evaluation of social services. This method links the need for measuring instruments to the paradigm of empowerment, which has shaped contemporary social work. A scale for measuring psychological empowerment was developed in consultation with social workers and people in poverty, based on validated and reliable measurement scales. It was subsequently tested in two Public Centres for Social Welfare in Flanders (Belgium). Results of confirmatory factor analysis indicate that the measurement model provides a good fit for the data and that the various latent factors are reliable and valid. We conclude that the factors emerging from the factor analysis reflect the three dimensions that form the concept of psychological empowerment: the intrapsychic, interpsychic and behavioural components. Results from the post-test survey indicate that this measurement instrument is promising, and that it could offer a response to current needs, although additional efforts are needed in order to improve the instrument’s handling.     

Agents for Change or Conflict?

In today’s Latin America, governments implementing public policies for development and against poverty and inequality meet with social movements that engage in practices for social change, poverty reduction, and empowering. In this context, we analyze the interplay between both processes, describing its conflicts in three specific dimensions: the material, the democratic, and the environmental. Social movements are permanently contesting and challenging public policy when they autonomously appropriate public policy resources; yet, governments respond with criminalization and cooptation strategies. In a setting where social conflict takes place in response to existing poverty and inequality levels, movements challenge development and poverty reduction projects of an ‘assistentialist’ and extractivist nature, and propose an integral understanding of development and the emergence of new relationships among individuals, society, and the environment.     

Poverty,exclusion and child protection practice: the contribution of ‘the politics of recognition&respect’

The affective dimensions of poverty, including the impact of wider policy discourses and services that ‘other’ and shame people in poverty, are increasingly recognized. In response, Lister [(2013). Power, not Pity: Poverty and Human Rights. Ethics and Social Welfare, 7(2), 109–123] advocates for ‘a politics of recognition&respect’ that centralizes the voices, participation and lived experiences of those who live in poverty. This paper considers how applying Lister’s theory could improve child protection (CP) social work in England, from a human rights and social justice perspective. The paper draws on findings from an ATD Fourth World participatory research project aimed at updating the course content for a pre-existing social worker training module on poverty awareness. The project brings together families with experience of poverty and CP interventions, social work practitioners and academics.     

Children in poverty in germany: reflections on recent social work research

This project focuses on children growing up in impoverished life circumstances, originating from an increasing level of poverty in Germany. There are two perspectives in social work research on children living in poverty: first, current research on childhood recognises that children are social agents in their own practices of life; second, research on poverty draws attention to the issue of social inequality, and broaches the question of the structural constraints and limitations of daily life. We report on current German research on children living in poverty, and focus on the role of peer relationships in coping with discrimination. This research is substantiated with the results of our own research project. We find that children develop strategies to mitigate the effects of poverty. The family can also help by providing the child with an interpretation of their poverty, and through daily coping mechanisms. Additionally, children can gain support from their peers. However, bridging social capital and gaining access to other social milieus is seldom successful. We conclude with a discussion of strategies that point the way out of child poverty. Such an optimistic goal, however, would require an alliance of practice, research and policy in the field of social work.     

Questioning the Pro‐Poor Agenda: Examining the Links between Social Protection and Poverty

This article investigates an empirical puzzle. Taking the case of Botswana, how is it that poverty is so high, when the country largely conforms to pro‐poor growth strategies? This article suggests that the minimal role of social‐security policies partly explains the relatively high poverty levels. This hypothesis is tested in a large‐N study of developing countries which shows that broad‐based and generous, rather than pro‐poor, social‐security policies impact strongly on poverty levels. The analysis further alludes to other obstacles to poverty reduction, such as economic transformation, which may be combined with a pro‐active social‐policy agenda. Thus, poverty‐alleviating strategies should be refocused to allow for a wider and more coherent role for social‐security policies.     

Unpaid work in the community: An account of becoming a community activist

Academics, policy makers, and practitioners are slow to listen to the needs and experiences of poor people, even about their experiences of poverty [P. Beresford & S. Croft (1995) It's our problem too! Challenging the exclusion of poor people from poverty discourse. Critical Social Policy Issue, 44/45, 75-95]. Angela is a young middle-aged British woman who has survived numerous traumatic personal, family and social experiences. She has read copies of this journal and is convinced that discussions between academics, professionals, policy makers and poor people will lead to better mutual understanding, a view reflected in a recent multinational project [ATD Fourth World (1999) Introducing the knowledge of people living in poverty into an academic environment: Synopsis. London: ATD Fourth World UK]. Through discussions with one of the editors, Angela has contributed this account which highlights the emotional aspects of being at the receiving end of public services as well as of becoming active in a community.     

Humanitarian work psychology: The contributions of organizational psychology to poverty reduction

Achieving the MDG goal of reducing world poverty by 50% by 2015 requires the cooperative effort of many disciplines. To date the discipline of organizational psychology has not played as significant a role as it might in this endeavor. With the recent establishment of the Global Task Force for Humanitarian Work Psychology, this discipline signaled its commitment to the global effort. Organizational psychology offers to bring its expertise to poverty reduction: its ability to assess needs and capacity, develop partnerships with stakeholders, bring about and manage change, and systematically review, evaluate, monitor and revise high level mandates, policy development, program implementation and consultation on personnel issues. Its successes as practitioners-scientists in private enterprise will enhance its credibility for success in the public sphere. The article reviews the research and practice of some of the organizational psychologists presently engaged in poverty reduction and how humanitarian work psychology might enhance the efforts of anti-poverty organizations.     

Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion: Implications for Social Work Education

This article considers the importance of understanding poverty for social workers and the ways it is delivered on social work programmes. It reviews the context in which poverty is experienced by service users and social workers. It then goes on to consider the ways in which teaching about poverty has been approached in social work education. Drawing on the experiences of the authors of designing and delivering a module on social work, poverty and social exclusion on a postgraduate DipSW programme it considers an approach to developing poverty aware social work practice for social workers in training. Finally it discusses ways in which the new three year qualification for social work training might develop this subject more fully in ways that seek to combat poverty and social exclusion amongst social work service users.     

Older people and poverty in rural Britain: Material hardships,cultural denials and social inclusions

This paper explores the relations between older people, poverty and place in rural Britain. It develops previous work on rural poverty that has pointed both to the significance of older people within the rural poor population and to their denials of poverty. The paper also connects with recent discussions on the complexity of relations between poverty and social exclusion in later life, as well as key themes emerging from studies of older people in disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods. Drawing on findings from a survey of 4000 households in rural Wales and interviews with older people in poverty in three rural places, the paper provides a detailed examination of the materialities and experiences of poverty among older people in rural places. In particular, it highlights how older poor groups construct their lives in complex terms with references made to both social inclusions and exclusions. The research also points to the significance of the socio-cultural contexts of place in shaping older people's understandings of poverty in rural areas.     

Social Protection and Health: Experiences in Uganda

There is an interesting and continuing debate on the nature and role of social protection in poverty reduction. Within the health sector, discussion has focussed on the drawbacks associated with fee exemption schemes and community‐based health insurance, with much less attention paid to the policy option of abolishing user fees. This paper reviews empirical evidence on the impact of the Government of Uganda's decision in 2001 to abolish user fees for health services. The paper finds that this policy intervention has had a significant positive impact on health‐seeking behaviour in Uganda and concludes that this policy measure can make an important contribution towards a more ‘promotional’ policy approach to social protection.     

Assessment of China’s Poor County Program

ABSTRACT

China made remarkable progress in rural poverty alleviation. A major policy instrument is the County Level Poverty Alleviation Program, which has vast policy support but is also criticized for targeting errors, misuse of funds, and making poverty both shameful and attractive. Whether this program, or the country’s economic growth in general, is the main force in poverty reduction is the question addressed in this article, analyzing data for the 592 poor counties. The response to the economic growth–policy alleviation conundrum is that a push for social wellbeing and empowerment is needed together with economic growth to achieve major poverty improvements.     

BELIEVING IN ECONOMIC THEORIES: SEX, LIES, EVIDENCE, TRUST, AND IDEOLOGY

Political economics views heterogeneity of political preferences largely as a reflection of heterogeneity in valuations of known policy outcomes. Voters, however, may be uncertain about policy outcomes, in part, because of uncertainty about how the economic world actually works. Heterogeneity of people's beliefs about how well economic theories predict outcomes could then affect policy through democratic institutions. Using a combination of experimental and survey techniques drawn from economics and social and political psychology, we examine several potential sources of heterogeneity in beliefs about the predictive content of supply and demand theory, with a particular focus on the role of ideology. ( JEL A110, A130, C420, C900)     

Implications of behavioural economics for financial literacy and public policy

This paper summarizes and highlights different methodological approaches to behavioural economics in the context of the conventional economic wisdom and the implications of these different methodological approaches for financial literacy, related institutional change, and public policy. Conventional economics predicts no substantive improvement from improvements to financial literacy. The errors and biases approach to behavioural economics suggests limited improvements to decision making from financial education as errors and biases are largely hardwired in the brain. Government and expert intervention affecting individual choice behaviour is recommended. The evidence suggests that the bounded rationality approach to behavioural economics, with its focus on smart decision makers and the importance institutional and environment constraints on decision making, is the most promising lense through which to analyse financial decision making. From this perspective, financial decision making can be improved by providing decision makers with better quality information presented in a non-complex fashion, an institutional environment conducive to good decisions, an incentive structure that internalize externalities involved in financial decision making, and financial education that will facilitate making the best use of the information at hand within a specific decision-making environment.     

Are income poverty and perceptions of financial difficulties dynamically interrelated?

An individual’s economic ill fare can be assessed both objectively, looking at one’s income with reference to a poverty line, or subjectively, on the basis of the individual’s perceived experience of financial difficulties. Although these are distinct perspectives, income poverty and perceptions of financial difficulties are likely to be interrelated. Low income (especially if it persists) is likely to negatively affect perceptions of financial difficulties and, as recently suggested by the behavioural economics literature, (past) subjective sentiment may in return influence individual’s income generating ability and poverty status. The aim of this paper is to determine the extent of these dynamic cross-effects between both processes. Using Luxembourg survey data, our main result highlights the existence of a feedback effect from past perceived financial difficulties on current income poverty suggesting that subjective perceptions can have objective effects on an individual’s behaviour and outcomes.     

Using rapid city surveys to inform municipal social policy—an application in Cali, Colombia

Many developing countries assign local governments increasing responsibilities in fighting poverty. This requires local social policy to go beyond the execution of centrally designed and funded education and health programs. Hence, local governments and their partners have both an opportunity and a need to analyze key local bottlenecks for poverty reduction and social development. Drawing on an example from Cali, Colombia, this paper describes a tool for such policy formulation at the local level, a rapid city household survey. Although the survey uses pre-coded and closed ended questions, it is contextual in the sense that it is tailor-made to social and economic conditions in Cali. The survey places particular emphasis on collecting both key quantitative information, like household welfare and service access, as well as qualitative information, such as service evaluations and population priorities. Combining the quantitative and qualitative data allows, e.g., to map population budget priorities or service satisfaction levels by welfare group. With costs of the survey moderate and turnover time short, rapid city household surveys could provide an important tool for the development of local social policies.