Governing Risk: Care and Control in Contemporary Social Work PDF
Preview Governing Risk: Care and Control in Contemporary Social Work
MARK HARDY GOVERNING R I S K Care and Control in Contemporary Social Work Governing Risk This page intentionally left blank Governing Risk Care and Control in Contemporary Social Work Mark Hardy UniversityofYork,UK ©MarkHardy2015 Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis publicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission. Noportionofthispublicationmaybereproduced,copiedortransmitted savewithwrittenpermissionorinaccordancewiththeprovisionsofthe Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,orunderthetermsofanylicence permittinglimitedcopyingissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency, SaffronHouse,6–10KirbyStreet,LondonEC1N8TS. Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorizedactinrelationtothispublication maybeliabletocriminalprosecutionandcivilclaimsfordamages. Theauthorhasassertedhisrighttobeidentifiedastheauthorofthiswork inaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Firstpublished2015by PALGRAVEMACMILLAN PalgraveMacmillanintheUKisanimprintofMacmillanPublishersLimited, registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills,Basingstoke, HampshireRG216XS. PalgraveMacmillanintheUSisadivisionofStMartin’sPressLLC, 175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010. PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabovecompanies andhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld. Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnitedStates, theUnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries. ISBN 978-1-349-34931-9 ISBN 978-1-137-31351-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137313515 Thisbookisprintedonpapersuitableforrecyclingandmadefromfully managedandsustainedforestsources.Logging,pulpingandmanufacturing processesareexpectedtoconformtotheenvironmentalregulationsofthe countryoforigin. AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. AcatalogrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress. Transferred to Digital Printing in 2015 Contents Acknowledgements vi Introduction 1 1 EnduringDebatesinSocialWork 8 2 AccountingfortheRiseofRisk 34 3 MentalHealthSocialWork–ACaseinPoint 52 4 TheProbationService–PragmatisminPractice? 85 5 ‘AnAnalyticsofSocialWork’ 124 6 ATechnicalIdentity? 144 7 Risk,UncertaintyandBlameinContemporaryPractice 164 8 Conclusion–DoingJusticetoSocialWork 182 Bibliography 198 Index 220 v Acknowledgements IwouldliketothanktheSchoolofHealthcareattheUniversityofLeeds for enabling me to complete the research project at the heart of this book.Thanksalsotofriendsandcolleagues,especiallyattheUniversity ofYork,whoseeffortstomakesenseoftheworldinwhichweliveand workhaveinformedmyown.Theseinclude,butarebynomeanslim- ited to, Ian Buchanan, Tony Evans, Sheila Fish, Hannah Jobling, Peter Knapp, Peter Morrall and Ian Shaw. Most of all, though, my love and thanksgotoLissie,LivandEddie,withoutwhoseloveandsupportthere wouldbenopoint.Soabighugto‘thehometeam’. vi Introduction Risk, in one form or another, is arguably the major issue with which contemporarysocialworkisgrappling.Notonlymustsocialworkprac- titioners work with risk, and assess and intervene to reduce it, but socialworkagenciesmustrespondtoandmanageit,whilesocialwork research and education must produce and enable development of the knowledge and skills required to do so. My intention in writing this bookistoofferacomprehensiveoverviewof,andoriginalcontribution to,debatesregardingif,howandwhythisfocusonriskisimpactingon theoryandpracticewithinsocialwork.Whatevertheirparticularprac- ticesetting,increasinglypractitionersfindthatassessingandmanaging risk is at the forefront of their role. However, the occupational groups concerned,andtheagenciestheyrepresent,haveestablishedtraditions, culturesandmethods,aswellasunderpinningidealsandvalues,which are not necessarily straightforwardly compatible with the logic of risk. Tensions have therefore arisen in which unease about the degree of fit betweennewresponsibilitiesandestablishedskills,knowledgeandways ofdoingthingsisevident. Changes associated with what David Garland (2003) refers to as ‘the rise of risk’ have been relatively swift, significant and manifested in numerous ways. There appears to have been a notable shift from approachestosocialworkwhichtakethewelfareoftheindividualser- viceuserastheirprincipalconcernandrationaleforpractice,tosystems whichseektoassessandmanagetheriskwhichserviceuserspose,either to themselves or, more usually, to others. According to critics of such changes, the nature, objectives and ethos of practice are consequently undermined. As such, the rise of risk represents a significant threat to socialwork.Theconsensusisthatithashadlargelydetrimentaleffects upon social work’s ability to remain true to traditional perceptions of 1 2 GoverningRisk itsnatureandfunction.Concernsregardingtheharmthatserviceusers maycausetoothershavelimitedthediscretionwhichpractitionershave toworkwithserviceusersonthebasisoftheirindividualcharacteristics, ratherthanactuarialtraits.Anxietiesaboutpotentialharmcontributeto riskaversionand,consequently,riskisimplicatedinashiftfrom‘care’ to‘control’insocialworkpractice.Cumulatively,thefearisthatriskis impactingfundamentally–andnegatively–onthenatureandcharacter ofsocialwork. In this book, I critically interrogate these claims, which represent something of an orthodoxy in debates regarding the state of con- temporary social work. I apply the analytic framework known as governmentality – originally formulated by Michel Foucault and sub- sequently developed by various writers, notably Nikolas Rose and, in particular, Mitchell Dean – to these changes. More specifically, and utilising the terminological conventions associated with this analytic concept, I undertake an ‘analytics of government’ in which the effects ofchangingpoliticalrationalitieson‘regimesofpractice’insocialwork areassessed.Concernsregardingrecentshiftspromptmetoproblema- tise the rise of risk, to ask how risk has risen to such prominence as a ‘rationality’ for practice given that its associated ‘technologies’ – actu- arially based risk assessment tools and evidence based approaches to riskmanagement–remainrelativelyunreliableandthatitsaims,meth- ods, logic and ethos are at odds with the traditions of the professions in which it is employed. I aim to answer a number of related ques- tions: if – and how – has the rise of risk affected, firstly, the way that socialworkersconceptualisethepeoplethattheyworkwith,alongwith theirprofessionalrolesandtasks;next,theformsandvarietiesofknowl- edgewhichpractitionersdrawuponinassessingandinterveninginthe lives of service users; third, the practices and technologies which they utilise in undertaking their roles; and finally, their identity as social workers.Answeringthesequestionsentailsasustainedanalysisofhow riskisimpactingonsocialworkacrossnumerousdimensions,including: the ways service users are thought of, represented, related to, worked with,andwhatinterventionaimstotransformtheminto;andtherole thatrisktechnologiesplayincontemporarypracticesofassessmentand intervention. The book focuses on social work as a generic profession, covering diverse but related areas of practice. At heart, however, it is concerned withpracticeintwoparticulardomains,mentalhealthsocialworkand socialworkwithoffendersintheprobationservice.Myaimistomake a contribution to debates about the implications of risk thinking for Introduction 3 practiceaswellastotheoreticaldiscussionsregardingtheriseofriskfor socialworkasdisciplineandprofessionmoregenerally. Although governmentality has been drawn upon to illuminate discussionsregardingthechangingnatureofsocialwork(e.g.McDonald 2006, Webb 2006), to my knowledge it has not previously been sys- tematically applied as an analytic tool to make sense of the shifting contours and parameters of practice. As such, the book represents the firstattempttodirectlyapplygovernmentalityasatheoreticalandana- lyticalframeworkforunderstandingcontemporarysocialwork.Aswill become apparent, over the course of this analysis I develop what – to mymindatleast–isadistinctivepositionindebatesconcerningif,how andwhyriskisimpactingonthetheoryandpracticeofsocialwork.The bookthereforeaddressestheneedforatheoreticallysophisticatedanal- ysis of recent changes in contemporary practice which does justice to thecomplexoriginsandeffectsofsuchdevelopments,butisnotneces- sarilyconstrainedbythelimitingparameterswithinwhichtheseissues areusuallydiscussedinsocialworktheorising. Outlineofthebook Thefocusofthebook,then,isonthewaysinwhichrisk,asanideaand apractice,hasimpactedonthenature,functionandidentityofcontem- porarysocialwork.Chapter1isascene-settingchapterinwhichIfocus on various characteristic and enduring debates in social work, which at heart are concerned with how we understand and undertake social work.Reviewingcontroversiesconcerningtheappropriaterelationship betweentheindividualandthestate,theoryandpractice,‘careandcon- trol’and‘artversusscience’willenableustousefullyconsidertheways inwhichconcernsaboutriskareimpactingonthenatureandobjectives ofpracticeandtherolesandtasksofpractitioners.Thischapterengages withargumentswhichsuggestthatwearewitnessingamoveawayfrom thebroadlyinclusive,welfareorientedandrelationshipbasedapproach which traditionally characterised social work, towards a situation in whichactuarialismpredominates;withconcernsregardingriskplaying asignificantroleinshiftingthepositionofsocialworkawayfrom‘art’, the individualand care, towards ‘science’, the state and control. These shiftshavesignificantimplicationsforbothserviceusersandpractition- ers,potentiallyinhibitingtheselfdeterminationoftheformerandthe authority and discretion, and thus professionalism, of the latter. The ‘generic’thematicaccountinthischapterrepresentsabackdropforthe
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