Non-Governmental Social Work in Russia: Professional Values

The paper is devoted to the study of the non-governmental sector of social work profession in Russia, represented by the Orthodox Church parishes and non-profit organizations. The study is based on 18 semi-structured... [ view full abstract ]

The paper is devoted to the study of the non-governmental sector of social work profession in Russia, represented by the Orthodox Church parishes and non-profit organizations. The study is based on 18 semi-structured interviews with social workers of the parishes and NGOs.
Non-governmental social work is regarded as an occupation in a process of professionalization and analyzed in terms of neo-weberian approach. In addition, social work in the parishes is considered in the context of collective religious representations that shape the community cohesion and moral legitimacy of helping profession. The analysis of the interviews shows a specific professional culture in parish social service. The central codes of interviews are mercy and empathy, the historical legitimacy of the engagement of church into social service and elements of specific language. What is revealed is a dilemma of secular and spiritual worlds regarding the responsibilities in social work. Besides, the requirements of the professionalization of social work reflect conflict between neo-liberal and neo-traditional approaches to the question.
The research participants from NGOs are distrustful of specialized higher education and claim that the needed skills and competences for their job can be learned in practice, but not at the university. In the narratives a special type of interaction with "clients" is described, which is characterized by non-hierarchical relationships, participation instead of control. The key leitmotifs in the interviews are such values as respect to the client’s identity, harm reduction, humane approach juxtaposed with so-called oppressive, stigmatizing, normalizing social policies of the state.
The study concludes that the narratives construct non-governmental social work as not only compensatory for the structural constraints of the state based services but also having its own mission and dignity.