(Re-)Politicising social work. Reclaiming the political role of social work in public social services.

Social work is under stress. The very essence of the social welfare state, the concept of solidarity, is eroding. Guaranteeing basic social rights is weighed against individualization, marketization and conditionalization.... [ view full abstract ]

Social work is under stress. The very essence of the social welfare state, the concept of solidarity, is eroding. Guaranteeing basic social rights is weighed against individualization, marketization and conditionalization. Social work is forced to obey to managerialistic directives including a data-driven and consumerist approach. The inherently political part of social work is pushed into the background. Following the work of Chantal Mouffe, a distinction can be made here between ‘the political' and ‘politics’. By the political Mouffe means the dimension of antagonism which she takes to be constitutive of human societies, while by 'politics' she means the set of practices and institutions through which an order is created, organizing human coexistence in the context of conflictuality provided by the political. Hence, social work has to reclaim its political role. Indeed, the agenda of politicians and institutions and the agenda of social workers are fundamentally interwoven and so both “politics” and “the political” are co-constructed.
We present an ongoing research in which we examine the way the relation between ‘the political’ and ‘politics’ is constructed. More specifically, we focus on the processes underlying this relation looking at the role and functioning of both professional social workers and mandated politicians within the Public Social Welfare Centers (PSCW) in Belgium. A PSCW is a local public institution where professional social workers and local politicians representing the community, are together engaged in a dialectic process to decide on a social intervention put in place to guarantee social rights.
We study four case studies (PSWCs), hereby giving attention to the position and contribution of the actors involved. Preliminary results indicate the potentially disruptive effects of changes in politics and the importance of formation, organizational continuity and commonly constructed strategies. Out of these findings, particular recommendations towards social work practices are explored.