Pride and Shame in Child and Family Social Work

How do we define what we mean by terms such as ‘pride’, ‘shame’ and ‘guilt’? Are they biological entities triggered by external events or socially constructed transactions that allow us to negotiate our way through the cultures we live in? Gibson’s thesis, grounded in constructionist sociology, is that emotions, or the meanings they are freighted with, are largely socially constructed and shame (and guilt) and pride can be used in a Foucauldian sense as disciplinary powers which can be constructed and reconstructed by policymakers, politicians, administrators and others with power and status to manipulate professionals’ behaviours and their sense of who they are as emotions can be seen as regulators of the quality and acceptability of professionals’ identities and practices. The opening chapters need to be read carefully because it is here that Gibson elucidates what he means by ‘pride’ and ‘shame’ and that becomes very explicit once he introduces...

Epistemology · Negotiation · Political science · Power (physics) · Pride · Psychoanalysis · Psychology of self · Shame · Social constructionism · Social science · Sociology · Child Welfare and Adoption · Children's Rights and Participation · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology · Social Work Education and Practice