Social work and “the social”: a biopolitical perspective
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RIS BIB ENDNOTESocial work and “the social”: a biopolitical perspective
Publication date: 29.10.2020
Issues in Social Work, 2020, Volume 25, Issue 3, pp. 163 - 177
https://doi.org/10.4467/24496138ZPS.20.024.13079Authors
Social work and “the social”: a biopolitical perspective
Amid the uncertainty of the current political context and an unprecedented institutional crisis in European welfare, this article offers a theoretical analysis of the problems arising from the historical reshaping of social work as a biopolitical organ of the state. It undertakes this analysis from a biopolitical perspective and asks how this framework can help us in defining the specific features of social work intervention in family life? To properly answer, the article proposes a methodological understanding which explicates a series of relations between “biopolitics – the social – social work”. To this end, supported by analyses from Foucault and Donzelot, the article shows how social work as a form of state governmentality intervenes in the lives of families to normalise behaviour and conduct. From a critical vantage point, these findings compel us to re-examine the problem of consent and consensus when working with service users and families in the midst of an increasingly more controlling authoritarian social work.
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Information: Issues in Social Work, 2020, Volume 25, Issue 3, pp. 163 - 177
Article type: Original article
Titles:
Social work and “the social”: a biopolitical perspective
Social work and “the social”: a biopolitical perspective
Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland
Published at: 29.10.2020
Article status: Open
Licence: CC BY-NC-ND
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EnglishView count: 1950
Number of downloads: 966