TY - JOUR
T1 - Critical social work in public social services
T2 - Poverty-aware organizational practices
AU - Saar-Heiman, Yuval
AU - Nahari, Mor
AU - Krumer-Nevo, Michal
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement 890262 (grant number 890262 – PCPPP).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.
PY - 2023/1/1
Y1 - 2023/1/1
N2 - Summary: Whereas some studies have addressed the conditions and practices required to infuse critical notions into the organizational context of public social services, there is a paucity of knowledge on what a critical public service can look like in actual practice. This article explores the possibility of applying critical theory and practice at the organizational level of public social services. It focuses on one social services department in Israel that underwent a six-year process of learning and implementing the Poverty-Aware Paradigm. Findings: Based on an in-depth case study that combines ethnographic and participatory methods, we outline how critical ideas are translated to four organizational principles: developing a critical learning culture, acknowledging services users’ knowledge and skills, leading a critical discourse in the community, and poverty-proofing services and allocating resources to tackle poverty. Each of these principles is presented with derivative organizational practices and a detailed account of their implementation. Applications: By broadening the framing of critical practice as an individual, street-level endeavor, the findings offer policymakers and public social services professionals an organizational model that mitigates the negative consequences of current neoliberal and managerial policies around the world.
AB - Summary: Whereas some studies have addressed the conditions and practices required to infuse critical notions into the organizational context of public social services, there is a paucity of knowledge on what a critical public service can look like in actual practice. This article explores the possibility of applying critical theory and practice at the organizational level of public social services. It focuses on one social services department in Israel that underwent a six-year process of learning and implementing the Poverty-Aware Paradigm. Findings: Based on an in-depth case study that combines ethnographic and participatory methods, we outline how critical ideas are translated to four organizational principles: developing a critical learning culture, acknowledging services users’ knowledge and skills, leading a critical discourse in the community, and poverty-proofing services and allocating resources to tackle poverty. Each of these principles is presented with derivative organizational practices and a detailed account of their implementation. Applications: By broadening the framing of critical practice as an individual, street-level endeavor, the findings offer policymakers and public social services professionals an organizational model that mitigates the negative consequences of current neoliberal and managerial policies around the world.
KW - child and family welfare
KW - critical social work
KW - organizational practice
KW - poverty
KW - social service
KW - Social work
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85148962217&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/14680173221144204
DO - 10.1177/14680173221144204
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85148962217
SN - 1468-0173
JO - Journal of Social Work
JF - Journal of Social Work
ER -