‘I didn’t come into social work
for this!’
Managerialism, Modernisation
and Alternative Futures
Iain Ferguson
University of Stirling
and
Social Work Action Network
Miss Earth 2010 – a ‘modern’
beauty contest?
‘Modernising the traditional focus of the "beauty
pageant" and bringing beauty contests firmly into the
21st century, the main focus of the event is to empower
the entrants to focus on and promote environmental
awareness. During their participation, the girls plant
trees, raise funds for their own chosen charities, attend
environmental activities, act as spokeswomen for
environmental thoughts and educate people on green
issues, in particular the three Rs (reduce, reuse and
recycle)’. (Press Release, Miss Earth 2010)
Cutting Public Services
‘There is a sense of liberation that
we are going to empower public
sector professionals to undertake
the reform’, Philip Hammond,
Shadow Chief Secretary to the
Treasury, (The Guardian , 25th
July)
Inequality in the UK
• ‘Britain has been slowly moving back in time – to levels
•
of income inequality that prevailed more than half a
century ago and to levels of wealth inequality of more
than thirty years ago’ (Lansley, 2006: 29)
Inequality matters: ‘almost all social problems which are
more common at the bottom of the social ladder are
more common in more unequal societies’ (The Spirit
Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do
better, Wilson and Pickett, 2009)
• Inequality and ‘social pain’: increased levels of homicide,
mental illness, teenage pregnancies and obesity
Neo-liberal globalisation and social
work
• Globalisation, Global Justice and Social Work
•
•
(Ferguson, Whitmore and Lavalette, 2004):
Argentina, Mexico, India, Senegal, France,
Britain, Australia, Canada, USA
‘Contingent on context’ but no country
unaffected: from impact of Structural
Adjustment Programmes to ‘the mixed economy
of care’
Neo-liberal social work: the experience of the UK
Defining managerialism
‘The idea that managers should
be in control of public
organisations and that they
should run these organisations in
line with business principles and
concerns (Evans, 2009).
Social work with people? The
Vanishing Relationship
• Reduction of social work to care management,
•
•
coupled with the contracting out of direct work
to private or Third Sector organisations;
Reliance on IT, with one recent study finding
that children and families social workers in the
UK now spend between 60 and 80 per cent of
their time sitting in front of computers;
Severe lack of resources, meaning that workers
continue to carry very high caseloads and that a
service is only offered to those who meet
extremely high eligibility criteria.
Doing neoliberal social work (1)
"Being a care manager is very different
from being a social worker as I had always
thought of it. Care management is all
about budgets and paperwork and the
financial implications for the authority,
whereas social work is about people.
That’s the crucial difference.“ (Jones, 2004)
Doing neoliberal social work (2)
‘The focus of social work has become
entirely procedural and the meaning of the
work has been lost. The needs of children
have become secondary to the needs of
agencies protecting them. The contents of
assessment appear insignificant as
agencies are far more concerned about
whether they are completed on time’
(Cited in UNISON, 2009)
Protecting vulnerable adults and
children?
• The case of Baby ‘P’
• Prioritisation of management skills over
•
•
•
therapeutic skills
Reduction of complex issues of relationship,
personal biography and structural poverty to
tick- box computerised assessments
Elevation of centralised targets over addressing
urgent human need
‘What works?’ doesn’t work
Reclaiming Social Work
• 1960s/1970s: crisis of social work - led to emergence of
ecological approaches and radical approaches
• ‘Another social work is possible’
• Based on:
• Centrality of relationship
 Rediscovery of collective approaches and emphasis on
social justice
 Learning from experience of service user movements
 Emphasising society’s responsibilities as well as
individual responsibilities
 Collective discussions of practitioners, service users,
academics and social movement activists
The Social Work Action Network
• ‘I didn’t come into social work for this’ –
Glasgow, 2004.
• The Social Work Manifesto
(www.socialworkfuture.org)
• UK-wide conferences: Liverpool (2006), Glasgow
Caledonian (2007), Liverpool Hope (2008), Bath
(2009).
• Challenging the scapegoating of social workers:
the Baby P Case.
• Developing the national (and international
network).
Defending Asylum Seekers in
Glasgow