Policy Press

The Emotional Politics of Social Work and Child Protection

By Joanne Warner

Published

Jan 12, 2015

Page count

224 pages

ISBN

978-1447318439

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Jan 12, 2015

Page count

224 pages

ISBN

978-1447318422

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Jan 12, 2015

Page count

224 pages

ISBN

978-1447318460

Dimensions

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Jan 12, 2015

Page count

224 pages

ISBN

978-1447318477

Dimensions

Imprint

Policy Press
The Emotional Politics of Social Work and Child Protection

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.

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.

Introducing emotional politics;

‘Heads must roll’? The politics of national anger and the press;

Hidden in plain sight: poverty and the politics of disgust;

From crisis to reform: the emotional politics of child rescue and commemoration;

Risk, respectability and the emotional politics of class;

The emotionality of official documents: the serious case review as an active text;

Comparative perspectives: cultures of difference and convergence;

Towards a new emotional politics of social work and child protection.

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