Social work and “the social”: a biopolitical perspective
Social work and “the social”: a biopolitical perspective
Author(s): Stephen A. WebbSubject(s): Social Sciences, Sociology, Politics and society
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: biopolitics; normalisation; family life; pastoral power; social work
Summary/Abstract: Amid the uncertainty of the current political context and an unprecedented institutional crisis in European welfare, this article offers a theoretical analysis of the problems arising from the historical reshaping of social work as a biopolitical organ of the state. It undertakes this analysis from a biopolitical perspective and asks how this framework can help us in defining the specific features of social work intervention in family life? To properly answer, the article proposes a methodological understanding which explicates a series of relations between “biopolitics – the social – social work”. To this end, supported by analyses from Foucault and Donzelot, the article shows how social work as a form of state governmentality intervenes in the lives of families to normalise behaviour and conduct. From a critical vantage point, these findings compel us to re-examine the problem of consent and consensus when working with service users and families in the midst of an increasingly more controlling authoritarian social work.
Journal: Zeszyty Pracy Socjalnej
- Issue Year: 25/2020
- Issue No: 3
- Page Range: 163-177
- Page Count: 15
- Language: English