Development of Social Constructionism in Social Work Studies

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  • 福祉の研究領域における構築主義の展開
  • フクシ ノ ケンキュウ リョウイキ ニ オケル コウチク シュギ ノ テンカイ

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Abstract

<p>Social work may be seen as a major social institution which legitimates the power contained in modern capitalist states. Many social constructionists consider how social workers oppress clients and how practical social work occurs. This paper focuses on two approaches that appear in relevant studies: 1) a narrative approach that urges practitioners to pay attention to the voices and stories of clients who have been oppressed by the dominant stories and urges clients to create alternative narratives, and 2) a critical approach that analyzes the construction and reconstruction of social work. Take the child protection system as an example: while recent developments in social work feature a shift to risk technology, it has been argued that combining social work with risk technology nullifies the narratives of clients and authorship of their own stories. Compared to the relatively well developed social constructionism in social work studies written in English, studies in Japan are largely limited to a narrative approach that encourages social workers to be more reflective than critical. This limitation in practical social work in Japan results from various factors, including the fact that social work requires a national qualification via a professional training curriculum accredited by the Japanese government. This paper highlights recent discussion of how social workers victimize clients and how social workers are themselves victimized by neo-liberal social welfare regimes in which risk is the controlling technology, and social workers become managers and deskilled workers. Attention is drawn to the self-justification of social workers and the fact that emphasizing victims requires social workers to resist risk-driven regimes that constrain both the behavior of clients and social workers.</p>

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