TY - JOUR
T1 - Social workers as willful subjects
AU - Sinai-Glazer, Hagit
AU - Krumer-Nevo, Michal
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.
PY - 2023/7
Y1 - 2023/7
N2 - How does social workers' agency come about amid the structural constraints they face in their everyday practice? Based on ethnographic fieldwork at a social services department in Israel, this article offers insights into social workers' agentic performances. Fieldwork lasted four and a half months (March–August 2021) and included daily participation in the department life, multiple interviews with all staff members (n = 28), and participant observations at various professional meetings. We identified four modes of agency among social workers: challenging bureaucracy and regulations, standing up to colleagues, supervisors, and managers, pushing through austerity, and disrupting professional norms and expectations. We conclude with illustrating social workers as Willful Subjects, recognizing the limitations of social workers' agency while acknowledging its powerful effects and prime importance.
AB - How does social workers' agency come about amid the structural constraints they face in their everyday practice? Based on ethnographic fieldwork at a social services department in Israel, this article offers insights into social workers' agentic performances. Fieldwork lasted four and a half months (March–August 2021) and included daily participation in the department life, multiple interviews with all staff members (n = 28), and participant observations at various professional meetings. We identified four modes of agency among social workers: challenging bureaucracy and regulations, standing up to colleagues, supervisors, and managers, pushing through austerity, and disrupting professional norms and expectations. We conclude with illustrating social workers as Willful Subjects, recognizing the limitations of social workers' agency while acknowledging its powerful effects and prime importance.
KW - Social work
KW - agency
KW - ethnography
KW - social work practice
KW - social workers
KW - willful subjects
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85152888390&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/14680173231165000
DO - 10.1177/14680173231165000
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AN - SCOPUS:85152888390
SN - 1468-0173
VL - 23
SP - 761
EP - 778
JO - Journal of Social Work
JF - Journal of Social Work
IS - 4
ER -