Technicist education: paving the way for the rise of the social work robots?

Morley, Christine; Ablett, Phillip; Stenhouse, Kate

doi:10.1332/204986019x15491042559718

Cited by 6 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…An influential work is Shanyang Zhao's article "Humanoid social robots as a medium of communication," which appeared in New Media & Society in 2006 and has been quoted 136 times. Zhao points out that "humanoid social robots belong to a special type of robotic technology used for communicating and interacting with humans" [13].…”

Section: Results / Findings and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Robots: A Bridge Between the Two Cultures

Campa

2021

KSS

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This paper aims to show the possible and actual synergies between social robotics and sociology. The author argues that social robots are one of the best fields of inquiry to provide a bridge between the two cultures — the one represented by the social sciences and the humanities on the one hand, and the one represented by the natural sciences and engineering on the other. To achieve this result, quantitative and qualitative analyses are implemented. By using scientometric tools like Ngram Viewer, search engines such as Google Scholar, and hand calculations, the author detects the emergence of the term-and-concept ‘social robots’ in its current use, the absolute and relative frequencies of this term in the scientific literature in the period 1800–2008, the frequency distribution of publications including this term in the period 2000–2019, and the magnitude of publications in which the term ‘social robots’ is associated to the term ‘sociology’ or ’social work’. Finally, employing qualitative analysis and focusing on exemplary cases, this paper shows different ways of implementing researches that relate sociology to robotics, from a theoretical or instrumental point of view. It is argued that sociologists and engineers could work in a team to observe, analyze, and describe the interaction between humans and social robots, by using research techniques and theoretical frames provided by sociology. In turn, this knowledge can be used to build more effective and humanlike social robots. Keywords: social robots, sociology, social work, meta-analysis, scientometrics

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Section: Results / Findings and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Robots: A Bridge Between the Two Cultures

Campa

2021

KSS

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“…The growing managerial practice of referring to predetermined scripts, rather than responding authentically as human beings in the moment (Ponnert and Svensson 2016, not only kills critical thinking, but deprofessionalises social work practice by reducing it to a technical activity (Morley and Dunstan 2013). Marcuse [1941] (Marcuse [1941] 1988) would refer to this logic as technical rationality or technocratic capitalism, and points to how adopting the script both disguises and exercises the use of authoritarian power (Morley et al 2019b). The removal of humanity and critical analysis from social work practice is symptomatic of "a kind of thoughtlessness [or] an inability to think", which Giroux (2015, p. 11), in drawing on Arendt's concept of banality has suggested is the root form of totalitarianism.…”

Section: Unmasking the Insidious Operations Of Neoliberalism On Social Work Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thoughtlessness aside, the notion that our interactions with clients can be objective and neutral is also problematic for critical theorists, who suggest the "pretence of objectivity" simply reproduces hegemonic assumptions (Gray 1995;Cowburn et al 2000;Morley et al 2019b). If the role of social work simply becomes reinforcing neoliberal governmentality through following scripts and carrying out other technical activities through risk assessment, surveillance, case management and the imposition of behaviour modification strategies, then arguably technology in the form of robots, may do this more effectively and efficiently than humans.…”

Section: Unmasking the Insidious Operations Of Neoliberalism On Social Work Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

“…If the role of social work simply becomes reinforcing neoliberal governmentality through following scripts and carrying out other technical activities through risk assessment, surveillance, case management and the imposition of behaviour modification strategies, then arguably technology in the form of robots, may do this more effectively and efficiently than humans. We therefore may find ourselves participating in the redundancy of a human social work workforce to make way for the more cost-effective, efficient and ostensibly objective robot social workers (Morley et al 2019b).…”

Section: Unmasking the Insidious Operations Of Neoliberalism On Social Work Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

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Critical Reflection: An Imperative Skill for Social Work Practice in Neoliberal Organisations?

Morley

O’Bree

2021

Social Sciences

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Social work practice and education have been significantly impacted by neoliberal governmentality, which can greatly undermine the espoused social justice mission of social work. This study explores the research questions: How might critical reflection support social work practice in neoliberal organisations? And how might critical analysis using insights from critical theorists fortify the findings of critically reflective research? This study uses critical reflection on a critical incident (from Author 2’s practice) as a methodology to respond to the first research question. It further analyses the findings of the critically reflective inquiry by drawing on relevant concepts from critical theorists to respond to the second question and expand the possibilities for practitioners to develop emancipatory practices in neoliberal organisations. The findings suggest critical reflection on the critical incident examined was effective in improving social work practice, and that additional critical analysis of the wider issues raised by the research findings may enhance social work as a value-driven, client-centred and social change-oriented profession. The article highlights the benefits and outcomes of working in a critically reflective way, and makes an original contribution to the growing literature that suggests critical reflection is a vital skill for social work practice in neoliberal organisations.

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“…These reforms have occurred alongside the elevation of technical, competency, capability and skills-based training: all of which seemingly help to develop practitioners who will 'not ask "difficult" questions, and therefore are easier for managers to manipulate and control' (Morely, 2019: 438). Central to these changes is the influence of employers and related government policy, including ongoing reforms within and of university sectors (Jones, 1996;Harris, 2003;Morely et al, 2017Morely et al, , 2019. For example, in the UK since the 1970s, governments and the now defunct Central Council on Education and Training in Social Work argued for much closer partnerships between universities and local authority employers.…”

Section: Neoliberal Social Work Education and Older Peoplementioning

confidence: 99%

The neoliberal university, social work and personalised care for older adults

Carey

2021

Ageing and Society

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This article critically examines the impact of the neoliberal university upon social work education, research and practice relating to older people. The article appraises market-led pedagogical reforms, including of the training of social workers who go on to work with older adults, such as in support of policies including personalisation. Influence is drawn from the work of Nancy Fraser: specifically, her understanding of ‘progressive neoliberalism’, or the improbable fusion of free market ideals with the politics of recognition to create a rejuvenated hegemonic bloc. This theoretical framework is utilised to analyse the prevalence of emancipatory constructs such as empowerment, participation, anti-oppression, equality, choice and independence within the acutely underfunded, bureaucratic and risk-averse fields of social care and social work. While benefiting some older ‘service users’, it is argued that personalisation policy regularly disadvantages or excludes older people within fragmented adult social care sectors. Progressive neoliberalism has helped to promote supplyled training and policies which envisage participative and asset-based self-care whilst more often excluding or objectifying older adults, especially those with higher-level needs.

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Technicist education: paving the way for the rise of the social work robots?

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

Social Robots: A Bridge Between the Two Cultures

Social Robots: A Bridge Between the Two Cultures

Critical Reflection: An Imperative Skill for Social Work Practice in Neoliberal Organisations?

The neoliberal university, social work and personalised care for older adults

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