Getting beyond 'Heroic Agency' in Conceptualising Social Workers as Policy Actors in the Twenty-First Century

Marston, Greg; McDonald, Catherine

doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcs062

Cited by 90 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…One effect of this is that "this framing of social problems encourages those professions working on social problems to adopt an 'inward-looking' perspective that minimizes the connections between structural change and the manifestation of individual problems" ( [62], p. 1023). Another is that targeting of "programmes" is considered the only solution to abuse, and universal, supportive services are eroded.…”

Section: Orientations Risk and Neo-liberalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Marston and McDonald [62] bemoan the de-politicisation of social work, arguing that recent neo-liberal developments of policy in many Western countries have resulted in a significant reconstruction of the social work role and, with it, the replacement of "…sociological and political-economy approaches to problems like poverty, and have instead opted for behavioural-economic understandings of human behaviour. The combined effect of these changes is to cast doubt on the knowledge and actions of social workers as political actors, particularly those social workers directly engaged in work that seeks to redress social injustice and to influence public policy" ([63], p. 1023).…”

Section: Inequality and Povertymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Current Debates on Variability in Child Welfare Decision-Making: A Selected Literature Review

Keddell

2014

Social Sciences

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This article considers selected drivers of decision variability in child welfare decision-making and explores current debates in relation to these drivers. Covering the related influences of national orientation, risk and responsibility, inequality and poverty, evidence-based practice, constructions of abuse and its causes, domestic violence and cognitive processes, it discusses the literature in regards to how each of these influences decision variability. It situates these debates in relation to the ethical issue of variability and the equity issues that variability raises. I propose that despite the ecological complexity that drives decision variability, that improving internal (within-country) decision consistency is still a valid goal. It may be that the use of annotated case examples, kind learning systems, and continued commitments to the social justice issues of inequality and individualisation can contribute to this goal.

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Section: Orientations Risk and Neo-liberalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Inequality and Povertymentioning

confidence: 99%

Current Debates on Variability in Child Welfare Decision-Making: A Selected Literature Review

Keddell

2014

Social Sciences

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“…This suggests that social workers may need to be educated about, and encouraged to use, strategies and skills that address meso and macro issues including skills in the art of being political -an argument made by others (Marston & McDonald, 2012), and by the researcher elsewhere (Brook, p. 124 as cited in Maidment & Beddoe, 2016). As argued in chapter four, this would enable social workers to explicitly recognise and acknowledge that they have a professional mandate to practice that is founded on the principles of human rights and social justice, and that they have the skills to utilise this mandate effectively.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, an exploratory study that examines the extent to which social workers remain engaged with the ethics, values and principles of the profession would seem prudent given the findings in this and other studies (Beddoe, 2011;Marston & McDonald, 2012;McCoyd et al, 2013;Scholar et al, 2014). Any such research would be applicable more generally to the social work profession.…”

Section: Potential Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 90%

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A cog in the wheel or an agent of change: Knowledge use and practice with older people who are abused in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Brook¹

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Across the past three decades a growing national and international concern about elder abuse is evident in policy, research and social and health care practice. There is currently a considerable body of literature on prevalence, predictors and risk factors as well as debates about definitions, conceptualisations and appropriate legal, policy and practice responses. There is more limited research on how the conceptualisations of ageing and elder abuse shape professional practice. Knowledge use and social work practice in elder abuse in the context of Aotearoa/New Zealand is the focus of this thesis.This thesis presents a qualitative exploratory study of elder abuse practice as reported by twenty social workers engaged in frontline elder abuse work throughout Aotearoa/New Zealand. The purposive sample of social workers practised in a variety of settings and were situated in different geographic locations across the country. The primary focus of this study is to explore how elder abuse is understood, how cases of In individual semi-structured interviews, participants were asked to describe their understandings of elder abuse, to explore the knowledge they use to inform these understandings, and to give details about what actions they take when encountering situations of abuse.An interpretative, social constructionist approach to this research was taken. All twenty accounts of practice were analysed thematically. This provided a means by which the processes of, and influences on, meaning, knowledge use and response-making could be scrutinised, and an understanding of elder abuse practice in Aotearoa/New Zealand could be discerned.The findings indicate that the term 'elder abuse' is universally recognised and articulated in practice, but when explored in depth, understandings about what constitutes elder abuse varied, were dependent on the knowledge individual social ii | P a g e workers brought to their practice, and on the context in which the practice occurred. This knowledge was not always explicitly used and consequently was often left unscrutinised. The use of tacit knowledge was seen to facilitate the establishment of patterns of practice that have become customary and are left unchallenged.The influence of the context on what could or could not be done to respond to elder abuse was acknowledged by many of these social workers. Beyond the immediate resource constraints that were recognised as limiting their options to address abuse, the significance of the socio-economic-historic-cultural-political context and how this informed and shaped social work practice (and the experiences of older people) were not readily identified by most. When these factors were noted, they were largely considered to be insurmountable.The findings from this study highlight that a narrow approach is taken by most of the social workers in this study when working with older people who are abused. There is little demonstrated understanding the socio/political context in which the abuse occurs, and the systemic issues that may co...

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Towards a ‘New Politics’ of Social Work

Gray¹,

Webb²

2013

The New Politics of Social Work

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Getting beyond 'Heroic Agency' in Conceptualising Social Workers as Policy Actors in the Twenty-First Century

Cited by 90 publications

References 5 publications

Current Debates on Variability in Child Welfare Decision-Making: A Selected Literature Review

Current Debates on Variability in Child Welfare Decision-Making: A Selected Literature Review

A cog in the wheel or an agent of change: Knowledge use and practice with older people who are abused in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Towards a ‘New Politics’ of Social Work

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