The Emotional Politics of Social Work and Child Protection

Download or read book The Emotional Politics of Social Work and Child Protection written by Warner, Joanne and published by Policy Press. This book was released on 2015-01-12 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For several decades, social work and child protection systems have been subject to accelerating cycles of crisis and reform, with each crisis involving intense media and political scrutiny. In understanding the nature and causes of this cycle, little attention has been paid to the importance of collective emotions. Using a range of cases from the UK, and also considering cases from the Netherlands, the US and New Zealand, this book introduces the concept of emotional politics. It shows how collective emotions, such as anger, shame, fear and disgust, are central to constructions of risk and blame, and are generated and reflected by official documents, politicians and the media. The book considers strategies for challenging these ‘emotional politics’, including identifying models for a more politically engaged stance for the social work profession.