Social Suffering
Changing Organisational Culture in Children and Families Social Work through Critical Reflection Groups—Insights from Bourdieu
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10896181 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mark Smith (0000-0002-1048-7786, University of Edinburgh, corresponding author), Viviene E Cree (0000-0002-9995-1820, University of Edinburgh), Rod Macrae (0000-0001-9972-7506, Alzheimer Scotland), Rhoda MacRae (Alzheimer Scotland Centre for Policy and Practice, University of West of Scotland, Hamilton Campus, Hamilton, ML3 0JB, UK), Douglas Sharp (City of Edinburgh Council, Edinburgh, UK), Douglas P Sharp (0000-0002-2419-7237, City of Edinburgh Council), Elaine Wallace (0000-0002-4026-0515, City of Edinburgh Council, Edinburgh, UK), Susan O’Halloran (City of Edinburgh Council, Edinburgh, UK) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 973-988 |
| Publication date | 2017-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The British Journal of Social Work (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0045-3102 • E-ISSN: 1468-263X |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/bjsw/bcw087 |
| OpenAlex | W2462426215 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 16 |
| References cited | 22 |
Child protection systems across the English-speaking world have been subject to critique in recent years, identified as overly procedural and compliance-based, within which relationships between social workers and clients are characterised by mutual suspicion and animosity. This article draws on findings from a knowledge exchange project in which a university social work department worked with two local authorities with the aim of bringing about culture change in children and families’ social work. The focus is on what the social workers said about their work in contemporary child protection systems and organisations in the course of participation in critical reflection groups. The experiences of practitioners are considered using insights drawn from Pierre Bourdieu, and especially his notion of social suffering, which suggests that workers may feel compromised in fulfilling the moral and emotional dimensions of the job as a result of the demands of a neo-liberal state. The article concludes that critical reflection may provide some limited possibilities to destabilise dominant practice orthodoxies and cultures and, in so doing, encourage culture change in organisations.
Critical management studies · Critical reflection · Critical theory · Epistemology · Pedagogy · Political science · Public relations · Social science · Sociology · Subject (documents) · Homelessness and Social Issues · Law · Mental Health and Patient Involvement · Psychology · Social Psychology · Social Work Education and Practice · Social Work
A sociologist in the field of social work
Critique and Critical Social Work
Resistant to change?’
Social workers and alienation
From being ‘at risk’ to being ‘a risk’
Development and Validation of an Organizational Cultural Measure in Social Welfare Settings
Social workers
The forms of social capital. Theory and practice in community work
Being, knowing and doing
Can a Paradigm Shift from Risk Management to Critical Reflection Improve Child-Inclusive Practice
Recognising Strategy and Tactics in Constructing and Working with Involuntary Social Work Clients
Grandparent Carers, Child Protection Practice, and the Best Interests of Children
Cultivating child and youth decision‐making
Responding to the ‘Weight of the World’
How Can Critical Reflection Improve Social Work Practice with Children and Families
The Emotional Labour of Austerity
Using evidence
Politics Of Child Abuse
Challenges of Critical Reflection
Affective Equality
It's what gets through people's radars isn't it’
A collaborative approach to defining the usefulness of impact
Children's services in the iron cage of performance management
Making social work more Bourdieusian
Critical reflection workshops and knowledge exchange
Social Work Under Pressure
Human agency and social suffering
Engaging with Involuntary Service Users in Social Work
Voices From the Front Line
Bringing Together Messages from the Literature on Criminal Justice Social Work and 'Disjuncture
Speaking Back' to Fear
Where Have All the Feelings Gone? Developing Reflective and Relationship-Based Management in Child-Care Social Work
An invitation to reflexive sociology
Displacing place-identity
Emotion Work, Feeling Rules, and Social Structure
Introduction
| Unique citing works | 16 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2025 (8) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 9 |