The emotional politics of social work and child protection - Hardcover

Warner, Joanne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1447318420 ISBN 13: 9781447318422

Publisher: Policy Press, 2015

Synopsis

For several decades, social work and child protection systems have been subject to accelerating cycles of crisis and reform, with each crisis involving intense media and political scrutiny. In understanding the nature and causes of this cycle, little attention has been paid to the importance of collective emotions. Using a range of cases from the UK, and also considering cases from the Netherlands, the US and New Zealand, this book introduces the concept of emotional politics. It shows how collective emotions, such as anger, shame, fear and disgust, are central to constructions of risk and blame, and are generated and reflected by official documents, politicians and the media. The book considers strategies for challenging these emotional politics, including identifying models for a more politically engaged stance for the social work profession.

About this title

Review:

"This brilliant book takes our understanding of the emotional dynamics of social work, child protection, politics, power, and everyday life to an entirely new level. Intellectually rich yet always relevant to practice, it shows how under recognized emotions like disgust and visceral notions of respectability not only create definitions of child abuse, but also what it means to be a good citizen and parent."--Harry Ferguson, University of Nottingham

"This thought-provoking and erudite book analyzes the role of emotion and moral judgment in public and political responses to childhood and children at risk. It addresses the role of disgust and shame and thus animates the predictable responses to child deaths. The book concludes with a powerful argument for an emotional politics of child protection."--Sue White, University of Birmingham

"Highly readable and very well structured. . . . [A] valuable for social work practitioners, especially those in child protection. Warner makes a strong case for greater account to be taken of how social work policy and practice are powerfully shaped by individual and collective emotion."--Child Abuse Review

"This book takes a panoramic view of child protection tragedies, from Maria Colwell in 1973 to the present day."--Critical and Radical Social Work

"A meticulously researched book."--Australian Journal Social Work

About the Author:

Dr Joanne Warner is a senior lecturer in social work at the University of Kent. She is a registered social worker, beginning her career in community development work and generic practice before becoming an academic. Her research focuses on sociocultural approaches to risk, particularly the way risk work has shaped professional practice and the impact of cultures of inquiry and blame, and also everyday risks as experienced by service users.

About this edition

• Publisher: Policy Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1447318420
• ISBN 13: 9781447318422
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224