Neoliberalism, Nordic Welfare States and Social Work by Masoud Kamali Jessica H. Jönsson

Author:Masoud Kamali, Jessica H. Jönsson [Masoud Kamali, Jessica H. Jönsson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780367152154
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2019-04-18T00:00:00+00:00

Conclusion

This chapter has analysed the ways in which neoliberal policies and their implementations give rise to increasingly ambiguous professional identities for Finnish social workers. On the one hand, Finnish social work professionalism is marked by the specialisation and academisation of social work, while on the other, working conditions are increasingly regulated and de-professionalised. In general, emerging ethical tensions are well recognised in the literature. There are also some empirical studies on the connection between compromised professional values and social work identity, even though they are less numerous. More research is needed where social workers are given the freedom to develop their own definitions of everyday challenges, possibilities and influences.

Scholarly debates are predominantly targeted at audiences within the realm of social work academia and public authorities – they are only rarely located within the general, interdisciplinary social science debate. Social work is a rather young academic field and is still clearly preoccupied with defining its self-identity and critical voice through internal positioning related, for example, to different ways of measuring and evaluating impact. Thus, research on social work and identity in the Finnish context seems to be more about the identity of social work as an academic field than as a profession related to human interaction. There are also very few studies that address social work management and how managers understand their identities. It would therefore be important to know more about their role and position as cultural brokers and translators of policies.

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