Social Work and Social Exclusion

The Idea of Practice

Michael Sheppard

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781351899291
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Work
• Index: Social Sciences

Social exclusion is a subject of major importance in contemporary social work and has been a core feature of social policy developments in the UK and Europe in the past decade. Michael Sheppard argues that the issue of social exclusion lies at the very heart of social work and he examines the implications of this position for both theory and practice. He goes on to examine a range of key topics in social work including: ¢ Social work values and knowledge ¢ Empowerment ¢ Need ¢ The exercise of authority ¢ Authority and Choice ¢ Evidence-based practice ¢ Reflection and reflective learning ¢ Judgement and decision making ¢ Social work and 'art' ¢ Social work as 'science' He discusses how each of these topics reflect an underlying concern with social exclusion, making it clear that even though the term 'social exclusion' is of recent origin, it provides a framework for understanding the enduring themes of social work. The book offers an original contribution to the understanding and practice of social work and includes a reappraisal of some fundamental aspects of the profession and its practice. In its focus on issues of wide concern it will be essential reading for practitioners and students in social work. It will also be of interest within social policy generally, offering an example of the way in which social exclusion becomes an issue of professional concern in welfare, and the form this takes in practice.

Chapter one

Introduction

It is the contention of this book that social work is characterised by certain enduring themes and concerns. It is possible to identify these, and from them to construct a picture of social work, not the subject solely of political whim or of mere practical activity (although it is a practical activity), but one which has durable and stable characteristics by which it can be identified, despite the developments and changes which do occur.

Our title gives away our twin themes: that social work is founded on notions of social exclusion and inclusion (indeed cannot be understood without these notions), and that ideas and practice are closely related. Social work practice is permeated with ideas, and social work ideas can only be rooted in practice. Hence our title: Social Exclusion and Social Work: The Idea of Practice. We might encapsulate all these elements (social work, social exclusion, ideas and practice) in terms of the idea of social work.

At the heart of this are the notions of social exclusion and inclusion. It is perhaps ironic that a term of relatively recent origin – it has been widely used only in the past two decades – should be a cornerstone of an enduring notion of social work. This is not, however, as problematic as it may seem. The issue is about finding a ‘language’ to express some of social work’s central themes and concerns. Although the term ‘social exclusion’ is of only recent origin, it gives expression to some of the major issues which have long been a concern of social work. This is important in two key respects. It is concerned, as is social work, with the relationship between the ‘mainstream’ and the ‘marginalised’, and social work has long occupied a place between the two. Second, and underlying this, are notions of social solidarity and a belief in a broad consensus about key elements of social organisation and societal values. The assumption of value consensus is one which has generally characterised the practice of social work (if not always the writings of those interested academically in social work).

Social exclusion, as a result, encapsulates elements of inequality and disadvantage, factors that have long been the context for social work practice. Its expression gives voice to the concern that people can experience themselves as ‘outsiders’, through a range of possible factors, not just about economic disadvantage but through ethnic group, health, disability, even personal characteristics, and so on. Underlying this is an assumption of the dignity and worth of human life which permeates social work.

Social exclusion, then, provides an anchor upon which to secure the idea of social work. However, this is far from enough to identify the idea of social work. We have to be able to identify characteristics which both unify its different forms (what is it that makes different areas and forms of social work part of the same overall thing that is social work?) and which differentiate it from other activities (what are the facets of social work which, together, distinguish it from other activities, such as nursing, teaching, counselling or policing?). This requires us to take an in-depth look at a range of aspects of social work which are widely regarded to be important and central to its discipline.

Our journey, in this respect, will involve us seeking to answer a number of important questions. The first involves us asking exactly what is meant by social exclusion (and inclusion), and why might it be considered relevant for social work. This is the subject of chapter two. We follow this up with a further question: what is it about social work which so closely aligns its nature and purpose with that of social exclusion? In this we examine some of the characteristics which create this alignment. This is the subject of chapters three and four. In particular, some of the concerns with social solidarity and consensus create a very close relationship between social exclusion, as it has been widely espoused in official and governmental documents and in social work.

However, we are also concerned with further related issues: what is it that determines the focus of social work on some areas of social exclusion, but not others? This is very much about the social construction of social work – the processes by which it is involved with some areas of concern and not others. However, if there is a concern with social exclusion, which places social work between the mainstream and the marginalised, we need to ‘fill this out’ with a more detailed analysis of those aspects of social work which provide its ‘social location’. This involves examining social work as operating on the cusp of a number of areas of social life (as well as between the mainstream and the marginalised). Such cusps run between the public and private spheres; between the social role and the humanised person; and in an interactional context.

Through this we will seek to establish both social work’s focus (or foci) and its social location. In order to obtain a deeper understanding of social work, however, we need to move on to consider some themes which have become of major importance. One key issue (at the heart of this book) is the extent to which we can consider social work to have an enduring and real status. This takes us directly on to the realm of values and the need to consider the issue of postmodernism, widely prosecuted as a legitimate ‘lens’ through which to view social work. In chapter five we confront this issue directly. Postmodernism, it is argued, is not simply inappropriate as a way of viewing social work; it is actually antithetical to the possibility of an idea of social work at all. It operates, in other words, with assumptions which contradict the very idea of social work. The idea of ‘postmodernist social work’ is incoherent. This leads us towards recognising the centrality of some objectivism in social work (that it treats the world, and the problems with which it deals, as real and independent of our perceptions of them) and of values and morality to social work.

If social work treats its concerns as being ‘real’, we may then ask: what is it that social work is responding to? This leads us to another area of huge importance in social work, the focus of chapter six: that of need. Beyond this, a further issue arises from the ‘material’ of social work practice – its concern is human beings, who are (in principle) capable of making decisions and choices. In dealing with need, how far are clients able to determine the direction of practice? Under what circumstances are choices primarily those of the client, and under which are they predominantly those of social workers? This involves two further issues of major importance in social work: those of authority (the powers that social workers have, and the mandating of those powers) and choice (a central concern in modern society, as well as in social work).

In carrying out these processes, what are social workers (and what is social work in general) trying to achieve? This question leads us (yet again) to a major concern of contemporary social work – that of empowerment. This notion is closely examined, and found to be rather problematic and grandiose, despite its widespread use and popularity. Alternative concepts – less popular, but apparent from earlier writings on social work as integral to its practice – are then examined. These involve maintenance (of the client and society), social functioning and coping. Though rather more modest than empowerment, these notions come out as rather more robust for the purposes of social work. These are examined in chapter nine.

Once we have sought to understand what it is that social work seeks to achieve, we need to look at what social workers do. What lies at the heart of social work actions? What form must social work take? Yet again, this leads us to issues of transcendental importance in social work. Is social work art? To what extent does it rely on reflection? Is social work, alternatively, a science? If so, how adequate is the notion of evidence-based practice? On the other hand, is it largely a tool of management – social work being a simple technical activity, which involves a series of relatively straightforward competencies? These issues are the focus for chapters ten and eleven.

The question of judgement and decision making is never far from the surface in social work. It is asked every time there is a child death tragedy, and frequently in the day-to-day contexts of practice. How, then, we must ask, can social workers make judgements and reach decisions? How can these be as rigorous as possible? This leads us to look at some of the most up-to-date issues in social work: those of reflexivity and process knowledge. This, in turn, involves the close examination of social work as being a matter of practical reasoning, a demanding task, requiring practical intelligence. This is the subject of chapter twelve.

Our penultimate chapter (thirteen) requires us to focus again on the ‘material’ of social work? How does social work ‘construct’ human beings? What are their core characteristics? Does social work have a notion of human nature? Some of this is alluded to earlier, but some of the core elements are examined here: humans as purposive beings; as social beings; and as having a conscious, but also subconscious and preconscious, state.

Our final chapter (fourteen) moves towards the recognition of social work, not just as a practice form, but as an academic discipline in its own right, separate from, but existing alongside other social sciences, such as sociology, psychology and politics. The chapter sketches out the paradigm which needs to be adopted for social work to be a distinctive discipline (the practice paradigm). In relation to understanding the world (including the social world) it requires a core of objectivism (the recognition that the world ‘out there’ is real). In relation to human beings, it requires the recognition of a ‘limited voluntarism’ – that is, that people are capable of being autonomous, self-directing beings, making their own decisions. Thirdly, there is – broadly – an ‘order’ or consensus view of society. These together provide us with key elements by which knowledge appropriate for social work may be judged – that of practice validity. Forms of knowledge appropriate to social work are (in part) valid, to the extent to which such knowledge is consistent with the assumptions outlined in the practice paradigm. This is examined in terms of the discipline of social work.

The final comment that should be made is of considerable importance. Some writers have sought to suggest that social work is an ambiguous thing, subject to change. We can agree that the situations confronted by social workers can frequently be ambiguous. We can also agree on the ‘surface-level’ changes to which social work is, from time to time, subject. However, it is the position of this book that social work is an enduring entity, with underlying characteristics which are consistent over time. These are apparent in its enduring themes. This will provide the overall position of the book, to which we can now turn.

Chapter two

Social exclusion and social work

In recent years a burgeoning interest in social exclusion has developed in the realm of social work. This is perhaps not surprising. On the one hand there have been extensive policy initiatives and discussions on the issue of social exclusion – in Britain, the European Union and wider afield. On the other there is an intuitive appeal in the idea that a concern with social exclusion is the very stuff of social work and marks a theme of continuity in its history. This surely cannot be a coincidence: social work’s concern for those marginalised and with little power presents a consistent theme in social work writing.

This notion of social exclusion – taking this intuitive viewpoint – merely represents a conceptual way of bringing together many – perhaps all – the key themes of social work’s enduring concerns. As such it would be tailor-made as an idea representing the central purposes of social work. Social work, this view would have it, works with those who are, in some respect or other, socially excluded, and seeks to increase their opportunity, through a range of means, for inclusion. The concepts of social exclusion and inclusion – two sides of the same coin – then, provide both the clientele and the purpose for social work.

This interest is evident from a growing series of publications on the topic, many of which, while focusing on social work, regard social exclusion and inclusion to be so central that the term is included in the title (Barry and Hallett, 1998; Dowling, 1999; Jordan, 2001; Nahri, 2002; Pierson, 2002; Ferguson, 2003; Smale et al., 2000). Likewise, a cursory examination of social work qualifying courses on the Web shows the importance of social exclusion to the curriculum (for example: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/users/acadreg/pubs/00ass.htm; http://www.stockport.ac.uk/CourseSearch/course_search_page; http://www.anglia. ac.uk/health/social_prospectus/structureandsequenceoftheprograme.htm).

The Association of Directors of Social Work (ADSW) has stated that ‘the overriding aim which should guide social work into the new millennium is social inclusion’ (ADSW, 1997, p. 4), while the Scottish Office White Paper (1999) comments (para 1.2) that:

Social work services can make a key contribution to social inclusion … Social work services can also help to promote social inclusion, by supporting family and friends in ways that help people to remain active members of the community, and by helping offenders to become better integrated into a purposeful way of life.

If we consider social work’s key purposes, Smale et al. (2000), for example, consider social work should be ‘working towards social inclusion’, and that it is central for ‘social work to address issues of social inclusion when responding to individual needs’ (Smale et al., 2000, p. 29). Jones (2002, p. 7) comments that ‘social work in Britain and elsewhere is immersed in poverty and social exclusion’. Martinez-Brawley, in suggesting social work has a heritage of seeking to be ‘life-enhancing’, was alluding to its capacity to encourage social inclusion (Drakeford, 2000), while whole conferences have been dedicated to the idea of social work ‘as a means of social inclusion’ (for example: http://www.elsc.org. uk/socialcareresource/tswr/seminars.htm (2000); http://www.icms.com.au/social99/Highlights.asp (1999); http://www.ifsw.org/Info/SWAD2003-1.info. html (2003)).

Likewise, where poverty and social exclusion have been so closely associated, there is a strong case for the clientele of social work to be highly socially excluded. Jones comments (2002, p. 7):

The overwhelming majority of those who use, or who have social work imposed on them, are poor and drawn from the most disadvantaged sectors of the population … it is often poverty and the associated absence of social and political influence which serve to corrode the lives and well being of individuals.

This is not just a modern phenomenon. Social work emerged in the nineteenth century out of a concern with the poorest in society – including amongst their number, and memorably referred to in Britain’s main metropolis by one author as, Outcast London (Stedman-Jones, 1971). The ideology and purpose of these early social workers may be put under the microscope – to identify whether they had only humanitarian philanthropic concerns or whether they were reacting to the problem of order and maintenance in society – but the focus of individuals such as Octavia Hill and bodies such as the Charity Organisation Society and the Oxford Movement was nevertheless on those who were poor and excluded from civil society. Poverty and associated problems, including what would now be called social exclusion, has been a perennial concern of social work.

Those in poverty, however, are not necessarily the only groups which may be considered excluded, and a description of such groups expresses a litany of those populations with which social work is centrally concerned. Dowling comments (1999, p. 246):

Social exclusion suggests an isolation which is not necessarily connected to financial hardship. Those who are, for example gay or female, or working class or older, or who have disabilities or are from a different ethnic group can be excluded by individual prejudices and by the stigmatising policies and structures of the wider society.

The intuitive case for a central concern with social exclusion and inclusion on the part of social work would appear, therefore, to be strong. This, though, is not straightforward, and this relationship will be explored in greater detail later. However, our immediate concern should be to map out the main dimensions of social exclusion, in order that we can understand better to what, exactly, this intuitive case commits social work.

The nature of social exclusion

Social exclusion, in fact, has a variety of possible meanings and of foci. Perhaps the best definition which gives us a sense of the meaning of social exclusion was expressed by the Child Poverty Action Group (Walker and Walker, 1997). Social exclusion ‘refers to the dynamic process of being shut out, fully or partially, from any of the social, economic, political and cultural systems which determine the social integration of the person in society’. This definition gives the sense that some people are ‘outsiders’, unable to participate fully in society, and that the problem is systemic, in that it involves – whatever the cause – social systems. Nevertheless, the range of meanings and foci which lie behind this general notion of ‘outsiders’ means that, if we are to consider social exclusion in relation to social work, we must understand what people are being excluded from.

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Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Social exclusion and social work
• 3 Social work and social exclusion
• 4 The nature of social work
• 5 Knowledge and values, postmodernism and social work
• 6 Need
• 7 Authority and choice
• 8 Empowerment
• 9 Maintenance, social functioning and coping
• 10 Interpretivism, reflection and social work as art
• 11 Social work, science and technical instrumentalism
• 12 Judgement and decision making: practical reasoning, process knowledge and critical thinking
• 13 Social work intervention and human nature
• 14 Conclusion: the discipline of social work
• Bibliography