Paul Michael Garrett
Biographic Data
| ID | 3673793 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Paul Michael Garrett |
| GIVEN NAMES | Paul Michael |
| FAMILY NAME | Garrett |
| SIGNATURE | GARRETT P M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8200-8377 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 86 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 370 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 86 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
Motivational Intensity in Emotion Regulation
Changing how we feel can be adaptive, but it is also difficult and may require effort. There is research on what people want to achieve in emotion regulation (motivational content), but there is little research on how intensely people pursue what they want to achieve (motivational intensity). We tested the role of motivational intensity in emotion regulation, by assessing (Studies 1–2, N s = 160 and 157) and manipulating (Study 3, N = 250) it in …
Artificial intelligence
We gotta get out of this place’
The article examines the work of Louis Althusser as it might relate to social work. Although his contribution is now neglected in, and beyond, social work, Althusser’s difficult and problematic conceptualisations warrant serious consideration. Seventy years after the publication of two of his most significant books, it is maintained that Althusser’s articulation of the interplay between the Repressive State Apparatuses/Ideological State Apparatus…
Magic moments’
The increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in social work prompts concerns pertaining to confidentiality and privacy; self-determination and the right to participate; and engaging with individuals as ‘whole persons’. Moreover, the deployment of AI may run counter to policy aspirations articulated by the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) emphasizing social workers’ ethical obligation to preserve the natural environment and …
Common sense as a conceptual tool to reflect on social work’s past, present and future
Antonio Gramsci’s conceptualisation of common sense helps us to think more critically about dominant ideas within, and beyond, social work. Especially important are his articulations of common sense (senso comune) and good sense (buon senso). Gramsci’s understanding is also rooted in a more encompassing theoretical apparatus in which hegemony and the role of intellectuals are central. Having pointed to the progressive possibilities associated wit…
Do expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal affect memory
A widely cited idea in the emotion regulation literature holds that expressive suppression impairs memory while cognitive reappraisal has no effect on or may enhance memory relative to control. However, empirical evidence for these effects has been inconsistent. To provide a definitive test, we conducted four well-powered experiments with more than 4,000 participants to examine the effects of reappraisal and suppression of negative emotion (Exper…
The proposal from Haifa that the global definition of social work ought to be ‘reconstructed’
In October 2024, this journal published an article by Tarshish (2025) ‘revisiting’ the International Federation of Social Workers’ global definition of social work (GDSW). This critical commentary identifies substantial concerns with this contribution and aims to address some of its gaps and elisions. Having discussed methodological problems with the Tarshish article, the commentary explores its striking omission of the genocide occurring in Gaza…
Pregnancy and birth are uncertain anyway’
While it is generally accepted that the support provided to women during the perinatal phase is of vital significance, many fail to receive such support. Migrant ethnic minority women are particularly affected by the shortcomings in service provision despite, in many instances, their already having experienced issues connected to displacement, stigma, racism, and associated social inequalities. With a specific focus on the Republic of Ireland, th…
Hegemony and settler colonial subjectivities
In March 2018, and again in January 2025, the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) censured the Israeli Union of Social Workers (IUSW) for its failure to adhere to the profession's ethical principles. IUSW members have been combat active during the ongoing Gaza genocide and the Israeli union has been stridently unwilling to 'make any statement calling for peace’. This article seeks to comprehend the IUSW's stance in light of the twin…
Exploring theoretical resources for social work from the global south
This article explores theorisation emerging in Latin America.In the mid-1960s, many social workers in the region were engaged in a 'reconceptualisation movement' whichpropelled by extraordinary intellectual and political energyprovided the foundation for a reimagining of the profession.Despite the arrival of military dictatorships and neoliberal regimes in many Latin American countries, the movement persisted into the 1980s and it remains a poten…
What are We Talking about When We are Talking about ‘Decolonising’ Social Work
The core concern is the ‘decolonial turn’ which is said to be taking place in a number of universities and other institutions. In this context, attempts are being made to unmask the colonial ideologies and common sense rooted in various disciplines including social work. The article examines key terms such as ‘Decolonisation’, ‘Eurocentrism’, ‘Coloniality’ and ‘Decoloniality’. In conclusion, some of the obstacles that may be encountered by those …
Human Rights and Social Work
Human rights are declared to be ‘fundamental’ and ‘foundational’ to social work. Such rights are part of the ‘DNA’ of the profession. This understanding is central to the profession’s self-image, and it reflects how social work portrays its ethical base to the general public and the wider world. However, uncritical uses of ‘human rights’ by its promulgators and (re)producers occlude a range of important questions; for example, around the failure …
The philosophy of liberation and social work
This brief article draws attention to the contributions of the Argentinian-Mexican philosopher and scholar Enrico Dussel who died in November 2023. Only a portion of Dussel's writings are available in English and his vast intellectual output, frequently laden with puzzling diagrams and figures, makes for a heady mix. In what follows, the aim is simply to identify some of his main ideas, especially as we might relate these to social work. The arti…
Visual word processing efficiency for Chinese characters and English words
The Word Superiority Effect (WSE) refers to the phenomenon where a single letter is recognized more accurately when presented within a word, compared to when it is presented alone or in a random string. However, previous research has produced conflicting findings regarding whether this effect also occurs in the processing of Chinese characters. The current study employed the capacity coefficient, a measure derived from the Systems Factorial Techn…
Bowlby, Attachment and the Potency of a ‘Received Idea’
This year marks the sixtieth anniversary of a report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) that furnished a mostly coruscating account of John Bowlby’s work on child attachment and maternal deprivation. Despite the WHO critique and a range of other critical interrogations, Bowlby contributions still constitute a ‘received idea’ within the discourse of social work. If criticisms are made of Bowlby, and what has been dubbed the ‘Bowlby School’, …
Social Work and the ‘Social Doctor’
This article furnishes a critical commentary on the work of John Bowlby. It is argued that social work’s critical engagement with his contributions demands that his ideas are historised. An exploration of his rarely examined early articles reveals a figure preoccupied with the wider social world and not simply the dyadic relationship involving the mother and her child. Viewing himself as a ‘social doctor’, Bowlby was also relentlessly intent on s…
High Acceptance of Covid-19 Tracing Technologies in Taiwan
Taiwan has been a world leader in controlling the spread of SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, the Taiwan Government launched its COVID-19 tracing app, 'Taiwan Social Distancing App'; however, the effectiveness of this tracing app depends on its acceptance and uptake among the general population. We measured the acceptance of three hypothetical tracing technologies (telecommunication network tracing, a government app, and the Appl…
The ‘medieval castle approach’
Social workers, broadly conceived, are engaged in assisting asylum seekers. Grounded in a small empirical study encompassing the Republic of Ireland and Switzerland, the article comments on the wider context and issues relating to asylum, migration and social work. The findings incorporate themes stretching across six interrelated dimensions: the practitioners’ own backgrounds; the lack of professional social workers; the dependence on volunteers…
People are responsible for their own individual actions’
Despite existing in contradiction to the espoused values of social work, neoliberalism has arguably transformed the profession in various places across the globe. This phenomenon has been widely considered, investigated, analysed, but the ways in which neoliberalism has shaped the consciousness of social workers has often been neglected. This is a substantial omission as it potentially fails to recognise how social workers themselves might now be…
Surveillance Capitalism, Covid-19 and Social Work’
Drawing on Shoshana Zuboff's (2019) The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, along with additional sources not ordinarily referenced in the social work literature, the article examines some of the economic and political imperatives that are driving forward new surveillance practices. The aspiration is to provide conceptual coordinates enabling practitioners, educators and those receiving social work services to arrive at a theoretically expansive sens…
Young Adults View Smartphone Tracking Technologies for Covid-19 as Acceptable
Taiwan has been successful in controlling the spread of SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, without a vaccine the threat of a second outbreak remains. Young adults who show few to no symptoms when infected have been identified in many countries as driving the virus' spread through unidentifiable community transmission. Mobile tracking technologies register nearby contacts of a user and notifies them if one later tests positive to th…
A World to Win’
This article is a response to Chris Maylea’s lively call to ‘end of social work’. Whilst welcoming the publication of his polemic, I maintain that there are substantial problems with his lines of analysis. Problematic facets of his article are enmeshed with questions of timing, tonality and positionality. It is also possible to identify significant evidential flaws in the bald assertion that social workers present a ‘real threat to people’. What …
Books Review
Against Stultifying Classifications, for a ‘New Humanism’
Efforts to ‘decolonize’ social work, along with the contemporary resurgence of racism and fascism, might prompt a return to the work of Frantz Fanon. Mostly focusing on Black Skin, White Masks and a recent collection, Alienation and Freedom, it is argued that Fanon’s commitment to liberation and the creation of a ‘new humanism’ was reflected in both his anti-colonial politics and in his practice as a psychiatrist. A defining characteristic of Fan…
Social Work and Social Theory
Introduction Part One: Debating modernity: 'How to be modern' Theorising modernity 'Solid' modernity and 'Liquid' modernity Modernity and capitalism Modernity and the unfinished neoliberal project Part Two: Theorists: Thinking with Gramsci Thinking with Bourdieu Thinking with Habermas Thinking with Honneth and Fraser New directions? Boltanski and Chiapello, Negri and Badiou Conclusion.
Social work’s ‘electronic turn’
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are becoming central to the remaking of social work with children and families in England and Wales. Factors helping to steer this development include ‘joined up thinking’, the ‘e-government agenda’, and marketization. Examples of ‘e-practice’ discussed include: the envisaged databases for children, featured in the Children Act 2004; the utilization by local authorities of the ‘Risk of Offending G…
Questioning Tales of ‘Ordinary Magic’
‘Resilience’ is now a keyword within the academic literature of social work. Nevertheless, there is need to resist ‘resilience talk’ becoming uncritically incorporated into the ‘common sense’ of the profession. A range of criticisms can be directed at the concept of ‘resilience’: first, the problematic operational consequences for children's services, such as an undue social policy emphasis on ‘resilience’; second, the fact that ‘resilience’ disc…
What are we talking about when we talk about ‘Neoliberalism’
Based on a review of the critical literature, the article provides readers with an overview of neoliberalism’s main dimensions. In this sense, it furnishes an accessible conceptual foundation for a number of the articles in the themed issue. It is suggested that those seeking to comprehend neoliberalism should take into account six intermeshed facets: the overturning of ‘embedded liberalism’; the re-configuration of the state in order to better s…
Sinbin' solutions
The `problem family' has been re-excavated by New Labour and located at the centre of the drive against `anti-social behaviour'. Associated with this is a plan, announced at the launch of the Respect Action Plan, to put in place a network of `intensive family support' schemes: the so-called `sinbins'. It is maintained that this is a retrogressive development and needs to be viewed in the context of debates that took place on the `problem family',…
Making social work more Bourdieusian
In recent years, some attempts have been made to ascertain if the work of the late Pierre Bourdieu has relevance for the work of social workers and others located in the social professions. It is important to support this exploration, but to expand it by also seeking to incorporate the overtly ‘political’ Bourdieu and to highlight some of the issues which preoccupied him. It is argued that his work, when viewed in a more rounded way, may contain …
The abnormal flight
2000). The abnormal flight: The migration and repatriation of Irish unmarried mothers. Social History: Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 330-343
The electronic eye
Given the rise of a ‘surveillance society’ or ‘surveillance state’, this article examines the evolution of new surveillant practices which are targeted at children in general, but also particular groups of children who are frequently seen as ‘troublesome’, even threats to the social order. In England for example, there has been an emerging preoccupation with ‘identifying’, ‘profiling’, and ‘tracking’ the potentially criminal young. Furthermore, o…
Social work and the politics of ‘austerity’
No detailed analyses have been undertaken comparing and contrasting how social work is responding to the problems generated by the imposition of so-called ‘austerity’ measures in Europe. Comprised of three sections, the discussion is focused on Ireland and Italy. This comparative exploration locates social work within encompassing frameworks related to the changing population, political economy and welfare regime in each of these jurisdictions. A…
Constraining and confining ethnic minorities
Neoliberalism and associated policies and practices of constraining and confining are adversely impacting on minority ethnic populations in the Republic of Ireland. In exploring these developments, it is vital to comprehend the specificity of Irish neoliberalism and to recognize evolving modes of impoverishment, containment and quasi-incarceration. In recent years, shifting patterns of migration have transformed the population, providing a signif…
The hidden history of the PFIs
The circumstances related to the 'repatriation', from Britain to Ireland, of Irish unmarried mothers and their children has still to be explored by social historians. One reason for this omission is connected to the absence of women and children within Irish historiography. None the less, adoption agency records throw light on the 'repatriation' process in the 1950s and 1960s. In seeking to understand the way that Irish unmarried mothers were res…
People are responsible for their own individual actions’
Despite existing in contradiction to the espoused values of social work, neoliberalism has arguably transformed the profession in various places across the globe. This phenomenon has been widely considered, investigated, analysed, but the ways in which neoliberalism has shaped the consciousness of social workers has often been neglected. This is a substantial omission as it potentially fails to recognise how social workers themselves might now be…
Thinking with the Sardinian
Antonio Gramsci (1891–1937), who died over 70 years ago, produced a complex body of theorisation which is mostly ignored within social work. In this paper it is maintained that there are a number of obstacles presented for those reading Gramsci. Nonetheless, these obstacles should not deter us from trying to engage with Gramsci. After briefly outlining his biography, the article focuses on just two of his key thematic preoccupations. First, the r…
Producing the moral citizen
Local authorities are increasingly beginning to use the Looking After Children (LAC) system to, ostensibly, improve ‘outcomes’ for children and young people in public care. This article explores aspects of the system which, it is argued, merit further analytical scrutiny. The discussion focuses, therefore, on the scheme's relationship to fears about ‘troublesome’ children and examines the centrepiece of the LAC enterprise, Action and Assessment R…
Social Workers and Social Justice During a Period of Intensive Neoliberalization
Despite the championing of social justice within the discourse of social work, some express concern that there has been a dilution in the profession’s practical commitment to seeking a more just society. The article begins by defining social justice and then refers to a number of studies that have endeavored to identify whether or not social justice is being pursued by practitioners. It is argued that renewing efforts to achieve social justice is…
Social Work Practices
This paper critically examines the government's proposals for the reform of services for children in public care, or ‘looked after’, in England and, more specifically, the proposal to set up Social Work Practices (SWPs, see Note 1 ). These are envisaged as groups of social workers, commissioned by but independent of local authorities. The changes have been mapped out by a Green Paper Care Matters: Transforming the Lives of Children and Young Peop…
Social work ‘logged on’
Information and communication technologies have become an integral part of daily life. This article explores the impact of the social networking site, Facebook, e-mail and text messaging for social workers in the Republic of Ireland. The study is small-scale and the findings, derived from a number of research interviews with practitioners and a survey of social work students, cannot be regarded as representative. However, the findings illuminate …
Looking east
The article furnishes a critical commentary on social work in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It is maintained that it is important to contextualise this development by taking into account the restoration of capitalism and wider structures of governance. Although there is no perfect alignment, it is argued that the (re-)creation of social work occurred during the same period when a Chinese proletariat was (re-)created. Drawing on the work o…
Creating Happier Children and More Fulfilled Social Workers
To differing degrees, governments in Europe, North America, and Australasia have, over recent years, given particular attention to the reform of services for children and families. However, the aim of this article is to focus on Britain and to examine plans to transform social-work services for children and young people who are “looked after,” that is to say, in public care. It is argued that these plans, focused on the introduction of what are t…
Encounters in the new welfare domains of the Third Way
In England, the Connexions service is to provide a universal service which is to inform, advise and guide young people aged 13—19 years old. The role of the agency and the personal advisers `at the heart' of the scheme is also likely to have a major impact on other professionals working with children and families, such as social workers. A number of initiatives introduced by New Labour have already resulted in the marginalization of social work. …
The pretence of normality
Northern Ireland is an abnormal political and social formation which, for a large proportion of its population, has lacked political and democratic legitmacy. As a consequence of this, the modalities of state intervention in the private sphere—the family—have been similarly abnormal. The discussion examines these interventions in relation to child abuse and domestic violence. It is argued that these social policy discourses are destabilized in th…
Bowlby, Attachment and the Potency of a ‘Received Idea’
This year marks the sixtieth anniversary of a report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) that furnished a mostly coruscating account of John Bowlby’s work on child attachment and maternal deprivation. Despite the WHO critique and a range of other critical interrogations, Bowlby contributions still constitute a ‘received idea’ within the discourse of social work. If criticisms are made of Bowlby, and what has been dubbed the ‘Bowlby School’, …
Keywords, care and neoliberalism
The article stresses the continuing significance of keyword-anchored theorising in critical social work. Paying particular attention to England and Wales, the focus is on care as a keyword. Care is central within a range of discourses impinging on social work and social policy in connection with the evolution of community care, the long-term care of the increasing proportions of older people, the treatment of children and young people in the publ…
Castaway Categories”
Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, discussion of poverty often incorporated references to a so-called underclass and its purported welfare dependency. This largely disparaging keyword now seems to have reappeared; recent uncritical references have been seeping into social work’s academic literature. Dwelling primarily on the United Kingdom, this article reveals that the “underclass” notion seems to have been reignited around the time of the ec…
Words matter
Drawing on Raymond Williams’ approach, the article examines ‘welfare dependency’ as one of the most pernicious ‘keywords’ in neoliberal discourse and encourages those located within the field of social work to be sceptical about its uncritical usage. Bolstered by conservative scholarship, the forging of a new ‘common sense’ on welfare may have contributed to the harsh public perceptions referred to in a significant British Social Attitudes (BSA) …
More than Words’
This paper explored the subject of physical touch occurring between social workers and children in the Republic of Ireland. Here, it was maintained that touch practices occupy an ambiguous area for social work practitioners. The empirical component was based on interviews that were conducted with a small group of practitioners in one particular Irish county. The study provided insight into the social workers' personal experiences of, and opinions…
Questioning the new orthodoxy
This paper sets out to explore aspects of ‘parenting’ as featured in the discourse centred on the Looking After Children system. Whilst acknowledging the need for reform in the interests of ‘looked after’ children and young people, the discussion seeks to illuminate problems, ambiguities and contradictions associated with the ‘parenting’ construct which lies at the heart of the scheme
Producing the moral citizen
Local authorities are increasingly beginning to use the Looking After Children (LAC) system to, ostensibly, improve ‘outcomes’ for children and young people in public care. This article explores aspects of the system which, it is argued, merit further analytical scrutiny. The discussion focuses, therefore, on the scheme's relationship to fears about ‘troublesome’ children and examines the centrepiece of the LAC enterprise, Action and Assessment R…
The pretence of normality
Northern Ireland is an abnormal political and social formation which, for a large proportion of its population, has lacked political and democratic legitmacy. As a consequence of this, the modalities of state intervention in the private sphere—the family—have been similarly abnormal. The discussion examines these interventions in relation to child abuse and domestic violence. It is argued that these social policy discourses are destabilized in th…
The abnormal flight
2000). The abnormal flight: The migration and repatriation of Irish unmarried mothers. Social History: Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 330-343
The hidden history of the PFIs
The circumstances related to the 'repatriation', from Britain to Ireland, of Irish unmarried mothers and their children has still to be explored by social historians. One reason for this omission is connected to the absence of women and children within Irish historiography. None the less, adoption agency records throw light on the 'repatriation' process in the 1950s and 1960s. In seeking to understand the way that Irish unmarried mothers were res…
Getting `a grip
Child adoption featured prominently in a range of discourses throughout the 1990s. Conservative administrations failed to introduce changes to the law in England and Wales, yet used adoption to attack `political correctness'. The character of adoption has radically altered since the 1950s and 1960s and any `reforms' introduced in the early 21st century need to take account of such changes. New Labour's initial preoccupation centred on `race' and …
Getting 'a grip
Encounters in the new welfare domains of the Third Way
In England, the Connexions service is to provide a universal service which is to inform, advise and guide young people aged 13—19 years old. The role of the agency and the personal advisers `at the heart' of the scheme is also likely to have a major impact on other professionals working with children and families, such as social workers. A number of initiatives introduced by New Labour have already resulted in the marginalization of social work. …
Putting children first? A comparison of child adoption policy and practice in Britain and Finland
There is a need to examine social work theory and practice across Europe. An exploration of issues related to child adoption in Britain and Finland illuminates the differing social and professional contexts in which social workers and associated professionals must operate. Key factors include, to differing degrees, the decline in the number of children 'available' for adoption and the issue of parental consent to adoption; how adoption has tended…
The 'Daring Experiment
This article examines the activities of the Children's Committee of the London County Council (LCC) and what a contemporary newspaper referred to as a 'daring experiment': its efforts to discharge children from public care to Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s. Archival evidence reveals how Irish children were identified and separated from English children in care and, in many instances, sent to Ireland. It is maintained the dominant constructions of…
The electronic eye
Given the rise of a ‘surveillance society’ or ‘surveillance state’, this article examines the evolution of new surveillant practices which are targeted at children in general, but also particular groups of children who are frequently seen as ‘troublesome’, even threats to the social order. In England for example, there has been an emerging preoccupation with ‘identifying’, ‘profiling’, and ‘tracking’ the potentially criminal young. Furthermore, o…
Social work’s ‘electronic turn’
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are becoming central to the remaking of social work with children and families in England and Wales. Factors helping to steer this development include ‘joined up thinking’, the ‘e-government agenda’, and marketization. Examples of ‘e-practice’ discussed include: the envisaged databases for children, featured in the Children Act 2004; the utilization by local authorities of the ‘Risk of Offending G…
New England and New Labour
The current New Labour administration in England is intent on the “modernisation” of children's services, and this is reflected in the Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme. When examining the foundation of this programme, a key element that is lacking in most accounts is any discussion of changes to children's services in the United States. It is maintained that these are significant and that some of comments of Pierre Bourdieu and …
Making social work more Bourdieusian
In recent years, some attempts have been made to ascertain if the work of the late Pierre Bourdieu has relevance for the work of social workers and others located in the social professions. It is important to support this exploration, but to expand it by also seeking to incorporate the overtly ‘political’ Bourdieu and to highlight some of the issues which preoccupied him. It is argued that his work, when viewed in a more rounded way, may contain …
Learning from the ‘Trojan horse’? The arrival of ‘Anti-Social Behaviour Orders’ in Ireland
The Republic of Ireland is about to introduce Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) similar to those introduced in England under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. Following Bourdieu and Wacquant, it is maintained that England is apt to play the role of a ‘Trojan horse’ transporting American responses to crime and ‘disorder’ into Europe. Moreover, the perspective of Bourdieu and Wacquant provides a more political and complete account of ‘policy tran…
Sinbin' research and the `lives of others
Sinbin' solutions
The `problem family' has been re-excavated by New Labour and located at the centre of the drive against `anti-social behaviour'. Associated with this is a plan, announced at the launch of the Respect Action Plan, to put in place a network of `intensive family support' schemes: the so-called `sinbins'. It is maintained that this is a retrogressive development and needs to be viewed in the context of debates that took place on the `problem family',…
Thinking with the Sardinian
Antonio Gramsci (1891–1937), who died over 70 years ago, produced a complex body of theorisation which is mostly ignored within social work. In this paper it is maintained that there are a number of obstacles presented for those reading Gramsci. Nonetheless, these obstacles should not deter us from trying to engage with Gramsci. After briefly outlining his biography, the article focuses on just two of his key thematic preoccupations. First, the r…
Social Work Practices
This paper critically examines the government's proposals for the reform of services for children in public care, or ‘looked after’, in England and, more specifically, the proposal to set up Social Work Practices (SWPs, see Note 1 ). These are envisaged as groups of social workers, commissioned by but independent of local authorities. The changes have been mapped out by a Green Paper Care Matters: Transforming the Lives of Children and Young Peop…
Helping Labour to win again? Anthony Giddens' programme for the new prime minister
In Over to You, Mr Brown: How Labour Can Win Again Anthony Giddens puts in place a new programme for the first administration of the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. In this short, critical commentary it is argued that the book is reflective of a project which is rooted in a desire to further deepen neo-liberal policies and practices
The ‘Whalebone’ in the (Social Work) ‘Corset’? Notes on Antonio Gramsci and Social Work Educators
The writings of the Italian philosopher and political activist Antonio Gramsci (1891–1937) are neglected in social work, but his complex body of work might aid the profession's understanding in the early twenty‐first century. Social work education, specifically, may have much to gain from Gramsci's theorisation. The focus of this article—perhaps, something of an introduction of Gramsci—will be on his approach to Marxism and his ideas related to '…
The Republic of Ireland
The Republic of Ireland was placed at the centre of debates on the future of the European Union (EU) when, in June 2008, voters rejected the Lisbon Treaty: 53.4% of those voting chose to reject the
The case of `Baby P
`Baby P', a 17 month old boy, died in August 2007 from severe injuries inflicted whilst he was in the care of his mother, her `boyfriend' and a lodger in the household. In November 2008 two men were found guilty of causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable person. The mother had already pleaded guilty to the same charge. Importantly, for Children's Services, `Baby P' had been subject to a child protection plan following concerns that…
More than Words’
This paper explored the subject of physical touch occurring between social workers and children in the Republic of Ireland. Here, it was maintained that touch practices occupy an ambiguous area for social work practitioners. The empirical component was based on interviews that were conducted with a small group of practitioners in one particular Irish county. The study provided insight into the social workers' personal experiences of, and opinions…
Creating Happier Children and More Fulfilled Social Workers
To differing degrees, governments in Europe, North America, and Australasia have, over recent years, given particular attention to the reform of services for children and families. However, the aim of this article is to focus on Britain and to examine plans to transform social-work services for children and young people who are “looked after,” that is to say, in public care. It is argued that these plans, focused on the introduction of what are t…
Sociology (71 works) · Political science (70 works) · Law (55 works) · Social Work Education and Practice (44 works) · Law (41 works) · Social Work (38 works) · Politics (34 works) · Homelessness and Social Issues (26 works) · Work (physics (24 works) · Psychology (23 works)