Going beyond the bounds of possibility: questioning the delimitation of the social in social work

Abstract:In the late twentieth century, neo-liberal ideologies have put great pressure on European welfare states and on social work that seemed to be forced into a role of managing social exclusion (Scherr, 1999). All European countries, albeit in varying ways, held on to the project of the welfare state through pursuing the transformation of a passive welfare state into an active welfare state. This reframing of the welfare state re-emphasises the moral and pedagogical role of social work (Lorenz, 2001). This evolution revalues the perennial pedagogical tension between emancipation and control as the core of social work. Many social workers, however, feel they lack space to cope with the inherent tensions and paradoxes resulting from this dilemma. They deal with it in very different ways. Some social workers put their hopes in an emerging belief that social work practice could be based more fundamentally on 'evidence'. Others emphasise the need for integrated services and seamless provisions, while still others strive to establish social work as a more recognised profession. All these tendencies imply ambiguity as, on the one hand, potentially the boundaries of social work are broadened out and, on the other hand, new restrictions on social worker's room to move (McDonald and Marston, 2006) are created. The repedagogisation of social work seems to go hand in hand with an individualisation (or desocialisation) of social work practices and theories. The paradoxical nature of discussions all too often leads to sterile debates between believers and non-believers. For this thematic issue we asked some authors to go beyond these yes-no debates and to tap new sources of inspiration by exploring the key question: what is actually the significance of the social in social work?

Publication year:2011

Keywords:social work, delimitation

Review status:Peer-reviewed