Perspectives on Neoliberalism for Human Service Professionals

Abstract

This article provides an overview of recent perspectives on neoliberalism, which serve as a foundation for the assessment of neoliberalism's influence on human services practice. Conventionally, neoliberalism has been conceived of as an ideology, but more recent perspectives regard neoliberalism as an art of government, a thought collective, and an uneven but path-dependent process of regulatory development. We argue that these new perspectives have the potential to contribute to our critical capacity and open avenues for the analysis of contemporary transformations of public policy and its delivery.

Social workers' emotional labour with families in poverty: Neoliberal fatigue?

“…The changing ideological environment over the past decades, with an emphasis on the effect of neoliberalism on the profession of social work, has attracted growing attention (e.g., Gray, Dean, Agllias, Howard, & Schubert, 2015;Schram & Silverman, 2012). The present study broadens the literature in this field by focusing on frontline social workers' emotional labour with the poor.…”

“…Being excluded from the option of receiving support from public social services, their economic hardship is even worse in the reality of the retrenchment of the welfare state and the reduction in social support. The changing ideological environment over the past decades, with an emphasis on the effect of neoliberalism on the profession of social work, has attracted growing attention (e.g., Gray, Dean, Agllias, Howard, & Schubert, ; Schram & Silverman, ). The present study broadens the literature in this field by focusing on frontline social workers' emotional labour with the poor.…”

Editorial: The social work voice – doxa and dissent in neoliberal times

“…The theme for this edition is Child protection, the family and the state: critical responses in neoliberal times. Neoliberalism is becoming a ubiquitous word; aptly described as overused and over stretched (Gray et al, 2015) and employed "usually by a certain kind of critic, to characterise everything from a particular brand of free-market political philosophy and a wide variety of innovations in public management to patterns and processes found in and across diverse political spaces and territories" (Dean, 2014, p.150). Neoliberalism as a term does however capture the essence of some pernicious directions in family policy, both here and globally.…”

Refugee Resettlement Policy in an Era of Neoliberalization: A Policy Discourse Analysis of the Refugee Act of 1980

“…Further, juxtaposing refugee policy with welfare policy and considering their temporal dimensions raise questions about citizenship rights and obligations as articulated by marketoriented policy, both for refugees who are noncitizens and for welfare recipients who are citizens. Neoliberalism as a regulatory practice is characterized by moments of policy changes, path-dependence, and ongoing transformation (Brenner and Theodore 2002;Ong 2006;Gray et al 2015). The Refugee Act of 1980, as precisely that punctuated moment of policy change and in precisely that transformative era of neoliberalization, may serve to illustrate "how neoliberalism .…”