PROTEXT aims to provide empirical, contextualized and comparative data about social workers and collective actions in different countries and use social movement theory to apply a multi-level analysis.
To meet the challenges of the welfare state, several scholars have argued that social work needs to move beyond the foundation of the welfare state and seek a foundation in human rights, social justice and new social movements. However, the inherent contradictions and challenges in such a grounding have not been discussed, for example evidence of social work students’ attitudes does not show any substantial support for political activism or social justice. Also, several protests or movements could challenge social work values, and research has shown that institutional values hamper social workers possibilities for activism.
There is a vast literature on social movements, collective action and protest that is highly unrecognized within social work research, and the suggested relationship between social work, social justice and social movements are seldom scrutinized beyond normative and generative assumptions, and exclusively within a western welfare state context.
PROTEXT aims to provide empirical, contextualized and comparative data about social workers and collective actions in different countries and use social movement theory to apply a multi-level analysis.
Participants
More about the project
Preliminary research questions
- How are protests organised by marginalised groups against social welfare and public health regimes understood and participated in, or even resisted, by social workers?
- What is the history and political opportunities of collective action in the respective countries?
- How are attitudes to collective action among social workers related to institutional bodies, framework and national contexts?
- What are the experiences of social workers partaking in protest and collective action?
Potential impact
The project will make and impact on the ongoing discussion about the foundation of social work, and the potential of grounding it in social justice and social movement.
It will also introduce social movement theory to social work and the comparative data will have relevance to other welfare professions, as well as to the general understanding of the framing and understanding of current social movements and protest campaign from marginalised people.
It will also possibly lead to increased understanding of collective actions with in the social work literature.
