Hagit Sinai-Glazer
Biographic Data
| ID | 288377 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Hagit Sinai-Glazer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Hagit |
| FAMILY NAME | Sinai-Glazer |
| SIGNATURE | SINAI-GLAZER H |
| AFFILIATIONS | McGill University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8417-5550 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 17 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 14 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Two sides of the same coin? What shapes social workers’ decisions to stay or leave social service departments
This study examines social workers' decisions to stay or leave social service departments in Israel. Previous research has primarily focused on factors influencing either retention or turnover separately, with limited exploration of common denominators affecting both decisions. Drawing on interviews and focus groups with 22 current and 25 former social workers, we identify three key tensions that influence both retention and turnover: (a) between…
Eligible but Not Entitled
This paper explores the distinctive dynamics of entitlement versus non‐entitlement social programmes, focusing on how this distinction influences frontline workers' management of access to social provisions. While much of the existing literature emphasises the macro‐level impacts of these alternative policy designs, this study focuses on their operational dimensions by examining how frontline workers steer users' access in each type of programme.…
It Was against the Rules but Had to Be Done
Multiple documents outline social workers’ professional obligations, such as the Global Definition of Social Work, laws, and codes of ethics. But how do practitioners themselves understand and perceive their professional obligations? In this critical discourse analysis study, authors examined closely what social workers talk about when they talk about the things they “have to do” or “must do.” Authors conducted interviews with 24 social workers w…
Revisiting the Bond between Social Work and Ethnography
Ethnographic research in social work is extremely valuable, yet not very commonly applied. In this theoretical article, I delineate the historical bond and ethical alliance between ethnography and social work, as well as highlight the empirical value that ethnography can offer the social work profession. By so doing I render visible the affinity between ethnographic research and the discipline of social work. I conclude by examining the relations…
Social workers as willful subjects
How does social workers' agency come about amid the structural constraints they face in their everyday practice? Based on ethnographic fieldwork at a social services department in Israel, this article offers insights into social workers' agentic performances. Fieldwork lasted four and a half months (March–August 2021) and included daily participation in the department life, multiple interviews with all staff members ( n = 28), and participant obs…
It’s Technical’
How is the helping relationship between social workers and their clients mediated by institutional practices and forms? This article explores the roles that institutional practices and documents play at the very inception of the helping relationship between social workers and voluntary clients who are mothers. Based on an institutional ethnography in a social services department in Israel, we make visible the ways in which taken-for-granted insti…
Modes of Relational Agency among Welfare-reliant Mothers
How do welfare-reliant mothers enact their agency in relationships with social workers and social services? The present article addresses this question by investigating how twenty Israeli welfare-reliant mothers expressed different modes of human agency in in-depth interviews. Results show how research participants enact agency through (i) expressing anger, (ii) seeking help, (iii) resisting and (iv) engaging in non-action. By highlighting the mu…
I'm not interested in research; i'm interested in services
This paper presents results of a research priority setting process focused on trans women living with and affected by HIV across Canada. It features data from semi-structured interviews and focus groups conducted with a diverse group of 76 trans women in five urban centers across the country on how they have navigated health and social service programming within their geographic context. The results focus on the structure and types of services. R…
Navigating helping relationships amidst heavy workloads
One major effect of the demise of the welfare state on public social services is increased heavy workload which leads to stress, burnout, and compromised well-being among social workers. Less explored are the ways in which heavy workload shapes the helping relationship between social workers and clients. Extrapolating from the narratives of 14 Israeli social workers who participated in an institutional ethnographic study, this paper offers a nuan…
The Essentials of the Helping Relationship between Social Workers and Clients
The helping relationship between a client and a practitioner is often described as the heart and soul in social work. This research explored the helping relationship between social workers and clients (the clients were mothers) in the context of public social services in Israel. The results presented here are part of a larger ethnographic study that included interviews with 14 social workers, 20 mothers who are clients, and extensive participant …
The construction of maternal identity among Israeli mothers who are welfare clients
Dominant social, cultural, and professional discourses view motherhood as the core of a woman's identity. Thus, the identity of women who do not meet the general expectations of motherhood might be negatively affected. Specifically, mothers who are welfare clients may violate the prevailing norms concerning the maternal role. This qualitative study explores how Israeli mothers who are welfare clients construct their maternal identity. Studies of …
Transforming Social Work
Stanley Witkin’s fifth book is an ambitious project. Transforming Social Work is an exploration in applying ‘postmodern’ perspectives, particularly social constructionism, to a range of issues germane to social work. While the mission Witkin took on is incredibly complex, the result is accessible and tangible for the most part. As a renowned social constructionism scholar, Witkin is critically questioning some fundamental aspects of social work, …
The Perceptions of Motherhood among Family Social Workers in Social Services Departments in Israel
This study examined how family social workers in social services departments in Israel perceive motherhood and mothering, in particular how the various aspects of the ‘good mother’ myth are evident in their notions of motherhood and how these are manifested in their encounters with their female clients who are mothers. The research methodology was qualitative, emerging from a critical feminist perspective. In-depth, semi-structured interviews wer…
Who Else Is in the Room? The Good Mother Myth in the Social Worker‒Mother Client Encounter
A fundamental dyad in public social services is woman to woman. In Israeli public social services, it is often mother to mother. This multi-faceted encounter is complex and in this theoretical article I wish to deconstruct and situate the social worker–mother encounter in a broader context, a social–cultural–national one. Taking a feminist perspective, I will explore how the personal and private social worker–mother encounter is a political and p…
The Essentials of the Helping Relationship between Social Workers and Clients
The helping relationship between a client and a practitioner is often described as the heart and soul in social work. This research explored the helping relationship between social workers and clients (the clients were mothers) in the context of public social services in Israel. The results presented here are part of a larger ethnographic study that included interviews with 14 social workers, 20 mothers who are clients, and extensive participant …
I'm not interested in research; i'm interested in services
This paper presents results of a research priority setting process focused on trans women living with and affected by HIV across Canada. It features data from semi-structured interviews and focus groups conducted with a diverse group of 76 trans women in five urban centers across the country on how they have navigated health and social service programming within their geographic context. The results focus on the structure and types of services. R…
It Was against the Rules but Had to Be Done
Multiple documents outline social workers’ professional obligations, such as the Global Definition of Social Work, laws, and codes of ethics. But how do practitioners themselves understand and perceive their professional obligations? In this critical discourse analysis study, authors examined closely what social workers talk about when they talk about the things they “have to do” or “must do.” Authors conducted interviews with 24 social workers w…
Revisiting the Bond between Social Work and Ethnography
Ethnographic research in social work is extremely valuable, yet not very commonly applied. In this theoretical article, I delineate the historical bond and ethical alliance between ethnography and social work, as well as highlight the empirical value that ethnography can offer the social work profession. By so doing I render visible the affinity between ethnographic research and the discipline of social work. I conclude by examining the relations…
It’s Technical’
How is the helping relationship between social workers and their clients mediated by institutional practices and forms? This article explores the roles that institutional practices and documents play at the very inception of the helping relationship between social workers and voluntary clients who are mothers. Based on an institutional ethnography in a social services department in Israel, we make visible the ways in which taken-for-granted insti…
Modes of Relational Agency among Welfare-reliant Mothers
How do welfare-reliant mothers enact their agency in relationships with social workers and social services? The present article addresses this question by investigating how twenty Israeli welfare-reliant mothers expressed different modes of human agency in in-depth interviews. Results show how research participants enact agency through (i) expressing anger, (ii) seeking help, (iii) resisting and (iv) engaging in non-action. By highlighting the mu…
The construction of maternal identity among Israeli mothers who are welfare clients
Dominant social, cultural, and professional discourses view motherhood as the core of a woman's identity. Thus, the identity of women who do not meet the general expectations of motherhood might be negatively affected. Specifically, mothers who are welfare clients may violate the prevailing norms concerning the maternal role. This qualitative study explores how Israeli mothers who are welfare clients construct their maternal identity. Studies of …
The Perceptions of Motherhood among Family Social Workers in Social Services Departments in Israel
This study examined how family social workers in social services departments in Israel perceive motherhood and mothering, in particular how the various aspects of the ‘good mother’ myth are evident in their notions of motherhood and how these are manifested in their encounters with their female clients who are mothers. The research methodology was qualitative, emerging from a critical feminist perspective. In-depth, semi-structured interviews wer…
Who Else Is in the Room? The Good Mother Myth in the Social Worker‒Mother Client Encounter
A fundamental dyad in public social services is woman to woman. In Israeli public social services, it is often mother to mother. This multi-faceted encounter is complex and in this theoretical article I wish to deconstruct and situate the social worker–mother encounter in a broader context, a social–cultural–national one. Taking a feminist perspective, I will explore how the personal and private social worker–mother encounter is a political and p…
Who Else Is in the Room? The Good Mother Myth in the Social Worker‒Mother Client Encounter
A fundamental dyad in public social services is woman to woman. In Israeli public social services, it is often mother to mother. This multi-faceted encounter is complex and in this theoretical article I wish to deconstruct and situate the social worker–mother encounter in a broader context, a social–cultural–national one. Taking a feminist perspective, I will explore how the personal and private social worker–mother encounter is a political and p…
The Perceptions of Motherhood among Family Social Workers in Social Services Departments in Israel
This study examined how family social workers in social services departments in Israel perceive motherhood and mothering, in particular how the various aspects of the ‘good mother’ myth are evident in their notions of motherhood and how these are manifested in their encounters with their female clients who are mothers. The research methodology was qualitative, emerging from a critical feminist perspective. In-depth, semi-structured interviews wer…
The construction of maternal identity among Israeli mothers who are welfare clients
Dominant social, cultural, and professional discourses view motherhood as the core of a woman's identity. Thus, the identity of women who do not meet the general expectations of motherhood might be negatively affected. Specifically, mothers who are welfare clients may violate the prevailing norms concerning the maternal role. This qualitative study explores how Israeli mothers who are welfare clients construct their maternal identity. Studies of …
Transforming Social Work
Stanley Witkin’s fifth book is an ambitious project. Transforming Social Work is an exploration in applying ‘postmodern’ perspectives, particularly social constructionism, to a range of issues germane to social work. While the mission Witkin took on is incredibly complex, the result is accessible and tangible for the most part. As a renowned social constructionism scholar, Witkin is critically questioning some fundamental aspects of social work, …
The Essentials of the Helping Relationship between Social Workers and Clients
The helping relationship between a client and a practitioner is often described as the heart and soul in social work. This research explored the helping relationship between social workers and clients (the clients were mothers) in the context of public social services in Israel. The results presented here are part of a larger ethnographic study that included interviews with 14 social workers, 20 mothers who are clients, and extensive participant …
Navigating helping relationships amidst heavy workloads
One major effect of the demise of the welfare state on public social services is increased heavy workload which leads to stress, burnout, and compromised well-being among social workers. Less explored are the ways in which heavy workload shapes the helping relationship between social workers and clients. Extrapolating from the narratives of 14 Israeli social workers who participated in an institutional ethnographic study, this paper offers a nuan…
Modes of Relational Agency among Welfare-reliant Mothers
How do welfare-reliant mothers enact their agency in relationships with social workers and social services? The present article addresses this question by investigating how twenty Israeli welfare-reliant mothers expressed different modes of human agency in in-depth interviews. Results show how research participants enact agency through (i) expressing anger, (ii) seeking help, (iii) resisting and (iv) engaging in non-action. By highlighting the mu…
I'm not interested in research; i'm interested in services
This paper presents results of a research priority setting process focused on trans women living with and affected by HIV across Canada. It features data from semi-structured interviews and focus groups conducted with a diverse group of 76 trans women in five urban centers across the country on how they have navigated health and social service programming within their geographic context. The results focus on the structure and types of services. R…
Social workers as willful subjects
How does social workers' agency come about amid the structural constraints they face in their everyday practice? Based on ethnographic fieldwork at a social services department in Israel, this article offers insights into social workers' agentic performances. Fieldwork lasted four and a half months (March–August 2021) and included daily participation in the department life, multiple interviews with all staff members ( n = 28), and participant obs…
It’s Technical’
How is the helping relationship between social workers and their clients mediated by institutional practices and forms? This article explores the roles that institutional practices and documents play at the very inception of the helping relationship between social workers and voluntary clients who are mothers. Based on an institutional ethnography in a social services department in Israel, we make visible the ways in which taken-for-granted insti…
Revisiting the Bond between Social Work and Ethnography
Ethnographic research in social work is extremely valuable, yet not very commonly applied. In this theoretical article, I delineate the historical bond and ethical alliance between ethnography and social work, as well as highlight the empirical value that ethnography can offer the social work profession. By so doing I render visible the affinity between ethnographic research and the discipline of social work. I conclude by examining the relations…
Eligible but Not Entitled
This paper explores the distinctive dynamics of entitlement versus non‐entitlement social programmes, focusing on how this distinction influences frontline workers' management of access to social provisions. While much of the existing literature emphasises the macro‐level impacts of these alternative policy designs, this study focuses on their operational dimensions by examining how frontline workers steer users' access in each type of programme.…
It Was against the Rules but Had to Be Done
Multiple documents outline social workers’ professional obligations, such as the Global Definition of Social Work, laws, and codes of ethics. But how do practitioners themselves understand and perceive their professional obligations? In this critical discourse analysis study, authors examined closely what social workers talk about when they talk about the things they “have to do” or “must do.” Authors conducted interviews with 24 social workers w…
Two sides of the same coin? What shapes social workers’ decisions to stay or leave social service departments
This study examines social workers' decisions to stay or leave social service departments in Israel. Previous research has primarily focused on factors influencing either retention or turnover separately, with limited exploration of common denominators affecting both decisions. Drawing on interviews and focus groups with 22 current and 25 former social workers, we identify three key tensions that influence both retention and turnover: (a) between…
Social Work Education and Practice (13 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Social Work (11 works) · Psychology (10 works) · Political science (9 works) · Social Psychology (9 works) · Public relations (8 works) · Mental Health and Patient Involvement (7 works) · Social science (6 works) · Context (archaeology (5 works)