Social Work & Society

Does social work really want to dance with zombies? A reply to Lynch and Wilson

Stephen A. Webb — 2024-06-10

This reply to Lynch and Wilson’s recent publication in this journal is a modest contribution which involves an intermingling of criticism and confirmation with a potted history of right-wing luminaries such as J.M. Buchanan and Gary Becker tucked inside some meta-textural analysis of the Mont Pèlerin Society and the collective dynasty of neoliberalism. The authors place heavy emphasis on the “dichotomous” relationship between collectivism and economic liberalism and suggest that the unresolved tensions impede a critical social work. Rather than offering a “third way” between communitarianism and liberalism, this reply breaks open the debate by changing terrain to post-anarchism and Jean-Luc Nancy’s social ontology as a more contemporary reading for the politics of critical social work. By tying the concepts of “freedom” to “community” together in a non-substantialist way, I argue that neither neoliberalism, nor normative versions of community are viable antidotes to zombie economics and our political futures. An alternative account of Agamben’s destituent politics of community for social work is elaborated through an engagement with post-anarchist writings of Marcello Tarì and The Invisible Committee.

Prison Social Work and the Risk Security System: Insights from Swiss Correctional Facilities

Julia Emprechtinger — 2024-06-10

Social work’s role in managing the risk of recidivism is increasing in the Swiss penal system. With data from a qualitative study in two Swiss correctional facilities collected during 2019-2020, this article shows that prison social work has a triple role encompassing voluntary social assistance, tasks in relation to the execution of a sentence, and – in the focus of this article – relatively new tasks in line with the risk-minimizing reasoning in prisoner rehabilitative work. The risk-oriented approach, however, is conceptualized under the definitional power of forensic psychology, which assigns social work a subordinate, executing role. While issues of motivating involuntary clients to offence-centred work are intensely discussed in social workers’ reasoning regarding the risk-oriented work, critically questioning social work’s role in the tension between care and control is less evident in the data. We argue that to strengthen the profession’s positioning in the risk-minimizing set of tasks of carceral institutions, a broader interdisciplinary discourse within it is necessary which requires a clear and convincing statement of social work on its possible theoretical and methodical contribution in individual case work as well as on the level of the system as a whole.

Exploration of factors that influence divorce: Voices of divorcees in Lagos, Nigeria

Samuel Ojima Adejoh — 2024-06-10

Globally, studies have identified different ideologies in explaining the risk factors for divorce. However, few studies have examined health-related factors in the termination of marital union. This study explored how health-related factors- of Sexual Transmitted Diseases (STDs), lack of sexual desires, genotype and domestic violence influence divorce in Lagos, Nigeria. The study was conducted in Lagos Island, Lagos. Data were collected from 30 consenting divorcees comprising males and females through in-depth interviews. Participants’ selection was achieved through a purposive sampling technique. Findings revealed that domestic violence, infertility and other health related factors, such as incompatible genotype, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and lack of sexual desires, are potential causes of divorce. Therefore, intending couples need to ascertain the compatibility of their genotype with their spouses through medical screening. Couples battling with any health challenge in their marital union should seek help from licensed health professionals to help mitigate the potential impact the challenge may have on their marital union as well as engage the services of social workers in finding solution to the problem of domestic violence.

Journey to the South: Consequences of inadequate Family care and National response to Kayayei in Ghana

Sylvester Kyei-Gyamfi — 2024-06-10

The difficulties of girls working in the "Kaya" trade in Ghana's urban markets are the main subject of this policy review paper. It is to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of the family and the government in dealing with "Kayayie" in Ghana. The paper largely adopted a desk study approach, the main sources being scholarly studies, and a review of information from government agencies, with the addition of the authors’ observations and experiences with Kayayie. The argument of the paper is based on Everett Lee's (1960) Push and Pull Model, which describes migration in terms of factors making people move out of their origins. The paper concludes that budget issues hinder the government's ability to address the kayayei phenomenon. The paper suggests that the government prioritize the welfare of "Kayayei" in the national budget and consider a nationwide data-collection exercise to generate accurate data on kayayei for improving programming and policy decisions regarding kayayei. The results also show that some families push their daughters into marriage to profit from it, while some girls are compelled to travel to the South to avoid being forced into marriage. Since families are primarily responsible for meeting their children's needs, there is a need to improve family life education about the importance of being more accountable for the maintenance of children in the sending communities as well as other migration-prone communities.

Stigmatization in Social Work: Comparative Collective Case Study of Social Workers in Sweden and the United States

Ivy Krull — 2024-06-10

This paper investigates how social workers in Sweden and the United States perceive the impact of social stigma, based on their experiences within a social service job. This is important because when social workers feel stigmatized (defined in this context as describing or regarding something, such as a characteristic or group of people in a way that shows strong disapproval (Merriam-Webster, n.d.)), they can affect clients negatively, i.e. poorer quality of interventions/results. Comparison of feelings of stigmatization among social workers in these distinct cultures enabled us to study how values, social policies and institutions influence stigmatization processes. Focus group data shows significant differences between Sweden and the U.S. regarding: 1) how social workers experience their society‘s view of social work, 2) what society’s view of social work means for social workers’ self-perception, 3) how social workers experience their society‘s views of clients, 4) what society’s view of clients means for social workers’ client work. Differences are mainly due to dissimilarities between the programs and institutions within each system. Findings indicate that promotion of the dignity and worth of people requires social workers to also experience dignity and worth in their professional role.

Resource mobilization service at the General Hospital of Tien Giang Center, Vietnam: The demands of in-patients with diabetes and cardiovascular disease

Vu Thu Trang — 2024-06-10

Studies on the demands of resource mobilization service among in-patients with diabetes and cardiovascular disease remain limited. This study aimed to estimate the demands of resource mobilization service and to examine several associated factors among in-patients with diabetes and cardiovascular disease at the General Hospital of Tien Giang Center, Vietnam. This was a cross-sectional study conducted on 196 in-patients, of which 98 were in-patients with diabetes disease and 98 were in-patients with cardiovascular disease. Additionally, this study used 8 in-depth interviews to collect data. The study results showed that in-patients with diabetes and cardiovascular disease had a high demand for resource mobilization services (over 90%). In the univariate regression models, significant factors for the demands of resource mobilization service among in-patients with cardiovascular disease were living area, marital status, economic condition, and the number of treatments. We did not find a statistically significant association with the resource mobilization demands of diabetic in-patients. The study provided recommendations to stakeholders to promote resource mobilization services for diabetic and cardiovascular in-patients in difficult circumstances. These findings had important implications for future research on factors associated with resource mobilization services among in-patients with diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Selected Aspects of Foster Care Systems in Poland and Germany

Sophia Hoppe — 2024-06-10

This article compares the foster care systems in Poland and Germany, particularly focusing on the moment when young people are prepared to leave the support system and live an independent adult life. The data was collected as part of the work of an international project team in Poland and Germany in the framework of a joint research project, and included an analysis of foundational data (systematic textual analysis and secondary data analysis). An important part of the article is an analysis of the reforms of the foster care system in both countries. In Germany the reform was implemented in 2021 and in Poland the relevant law was changed in September 2022. The result is a comparison of the support systems Poland and Germany offer care leavers and a preliminary assessment of the reforms recently introduced in both countries.

Social Work and Society: Pathways Towards a Global Public Sphere

Marie Frühauf — 2024-06-10

A succession of global crises defines the first two decades of the 21st century. Crises already dominated main parts of the 20th century – and are part of the modern societies in general. But the global dimension of the current crises, first and foremost the pandemic and the climate crisis, is unprecedented. In contrast, social security and social care programs and strategies are still anchored in and oriented towards the nation state. Therefore, they react with a corresponding uncertainty or simplified security promises only on the national level. Exceptions on a supranational level, such as attempts to strengthen the social dimension in the European Union (EU), are only partially successful. This is not least because the European unification was primarily motivated by the economic strengthening of the member states and the European economy in general. Aspects like social security as well as the democratic legitimacy of the EU always lagged behind. This seemed to be legitimate as long as a certain division of labour seemed to work: transnational cooperation strengthens economic dynamics and the necessary social integration is established at the national level. With the need to manage the current global crises and prevent their further escalation, the question of an actual global welfare policy and a global public sphere is moving to the centre of attention.

Historical and contemporary opportunities to assert social work’s political commitment between private and public sphere

Walter Lorenz — 2024-06-10

The Corona pandemic evidenced the profound uncertainties over whether securing one’s welfare is a private or a public concern since neoliberal policies had promoted individualisation and privatisation on all fronts. This historical overview of key moments in the development of social work summarises the transformative role this profession assumed in the face of political tendencies to impose splits between a national and an international orientation, scientific neutrality and the recognition of diverse identity claims, personal and public responsibility, care and control. Overcoming these dilemmas requires an ethical commitment in giving situation-specific assistance and a political commitment towards building a public sphere that can effectively raise personal concerns in terms of public and indeed international rights. In this way social work can contribute to trust-building in participatively and reflectively grounded expertise and thereby the strengthening of democratic processes.

Protecting Children and Supporting Families post-Covid

Brid Featherstone — 2024-06-10

In this article, the author revisits her work on the Social Model of Protecting Children. This work is based on research into social inequalities and social harms and poses a challenge to the individualising child protection narratives that have dominated in England, the country the article is based on. The author explores the possibilities thrown up by Covid 19, for supporting shifts towards a social model. It will be argued, however, that while there were, indeed, such possibilities, subsequent explorations have raised troubling questions particularly concerning the role of the contemporary state in England. The article concludes by highlighting some conceptual and empirical resources to support renewed critique and activism going forward.

The interdependence of structural context and the Covid-19 pandemic: The case of Slovenia

Vesna Leskošek — 2024-06-10

The main topic of this paper is the question, what can the state management of the COVID-19 pandemic tell us about the social system in Slovenia? Slovenia was among the countries that took tough measures to limit the spread of the virus and drastically limited the contacts of staff in social services with service users, rather than adapting the measures to increased need of people for support and help to ease social distress. We examined the problem with research on the operation of social services during the first and second wave of the pandemic. The results mainly showed big differences between social services, which indicates inconsistent functioning of the social system. In some places they prohibited personal contact between employees and users of services, while in others, with the constant search for innovative ways of acting, they enabled and even encouraged contact. The main conclusion of the research is that these inconsistencies are primarily a consequence of structural deficiencies and the government's lack of awareness of the importance of these services for general well-being.

Challenges Faced by Older Persons in Eastern and Southern Africa and Implications for Social Work Practice

Jotham Dhemba — 2024-06-10

This article explores the challenges faced by older persons in Eastern and Southern Africa and their implications for social work practice. The phenomenal increase in the number of older persons in Eastern and Southern Africa, like elsewhere regionally and internationally, is occurring in a context where this demographic shift is yet to be matched with the resources, skills and government commitment to respond to their needs. As a result, older persons in Eastern and Southern Africa face a myriad of challenges including poverty, food insecurity, poor health and lack of or limited access to social services, abandonment and neglect, and abuse. Their plight is exacerbated by diminishing inter-generational support, due to the pervasiveness of poverty in these countries, and sociocultural processes such as modernisation, globalisation, migration and urbanisation. Nonetheless, although ageing cannot be prevented, some of its consequences can be mitigated or delayed to enable older persons to age successfully and with dignity. As such, vulnerability in old age requires new frameworks of support to ensure their well-being. In this regard, the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development 2012 commits social workers to promote social and economic justice and the dignity and sanctity of human life, older persons included.

New charity economy and social work: Reclaiming the social dimension of public life in the context of changing welfare rationales

Griet Roets — 2024-06-10

A complex historical transformation of the institutional framework of the welfare state is taking place changing the relationship between citizens, the state, civil society, and the market, which leads to an emerging so-called charity economy. The key question we address is how social work and social pedagogy can continue to fulfil their public and professional mandate while changing welfare rationales increasingly constrain its social justice and human rights aspirations. We will discuss and illustrate how this new charity economy has gradually emerged on the level of local welfare systems in Belgium, relying on dialectics that enable us to untangle changing welfare rationales. We conclude that social work and social pedagogy should stage a political struggle to radicalize democratic debate on complexities and frictions in welfare systems in the local, national, and global realms.

Adolescence in times of social-ecological crisis. Perspectives for social pedagogical analysis and research

Marie Frühauf — 2024-06-10

Against the background of current multiple crises, above all the social-ecological crisis, the question arises how the phase of adolescence and its arrangement in fields of social pedagogy/social work are affected by this. Quantitative research shows that many young people are worried about the future because of the climate crisis. These surveys also show that the experience of the crisis is embedded in class and gender relations. However, there is a lack of qualitative research on this issue in general and on social pedagogical responses in particular. This article develops a perspective for social pedagogical research that focuses on both the affective and the social dimensions of adolescence. On this basis, initial reflections are made on the significance of the social-ecological crisis for negotiating adolescence between professionals and adolescents in the field of Open Child and Youth Work.