Trapped in discourse? Obstacles to meaningful social work education, research and practice within the neoliberal university
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Carey, MalcolmAffiliation
University of ChesterPublication Date
2019-12-18
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This article appraises the role of the neoliberal university in regulating social work education, research and practice. The dominance of governments and employers in determining social work education is highlighted, alongside the ascendancy of skills-based and vocational training. Moreover, it is proposed that research, associated learning, and practice are now more often moulded around essentialist science-based, behavioural or functionalist paradigms, which fit conveniently with free market, politically conservative and authoritarian agendas. The neoliberal university is increasingly able to rationally prepare social workers to fulfil narrow ideological objectives, which includes priority given to attempts to empower, pathologise, and scientifically manage structurally disadvantaged populations from minority groups. Reductive paradigms, nevertheless, can struggle to cope with social fragmentation and diversity, with social work students often ill prepared for many of the complex challenges which they later face as qualified practitioners. Analysis for the article draws from critical theory, and it is concluded that market-based discourses and related professional paradigms - and the symbolically constituted and hyperreal fantasies which they help to maintain - can prove difficult to escape. Social work continues to face a precarious future within university settings in which free market narratives, associated norms, targets, and labour insecurity prevail.Citation
Carey, M. (2021). Trapped in discourse: Obstacles to meaningful social work education, research and practice in the neoliberal university. Social Work Education, 40(1), 4-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2019.1703933Publisher
Taylor & FrancisJournal
Social Work EducationAdditional Links
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02615479.2019.1703933Type
ArticleDescription
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Social Work Education on 18/12/2019, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02615479.2019.1703933.EISSN
1470-1227ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1080/02615479.2019.1703933
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