• myGriffith
    • Staff portal
    • Contact Us⌄
      • Future student enquiries 1800 677 728
      • Current student enquiries 1800 154 055
      • International enquiries +61 7 3735 6425
      • General enquiries 07 3735 7111
      • Online enquiries
      • Staff phonebook
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • Griffith Theses
    • Theses - Higher Degree by Research
    • View Item
    • Home
    • Griffith Theses
    • Theses - Higher Degree by Research
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

  • All of Griffith Research Online
    • Communities & Collections
    • Authors
    • By Issue Date
    • Titles
  • This Collection
    • Authors
    • By Issue Date
    • Titles
  • Statistics

  • Most Popular Items
  • Statistics by Country
  • Most Popular Authors
  • Support

  • Contact us
  • FAQs
  • Admin login

  • Login
  • Social Work Activism: Resistance at the Frontier

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    Greenslade_2013_02Thesis.pdf (1.009Mb)
    Author(s)
    Greenslade, Leia J.
    Primary Supervisor
    McAuliffe, Donna
    Other Supervisors
    Chenoweth, Lesley
    Year published
    2013
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    When social and economic systems disadvantage individuals and groups, social workers have historically been amongst those who protest. The contemporary context provides particular challenges for social workers discontent with welfare service delivery influenced by neo-liberal ideology. Recent research reports on a range of barriers to activist practice, with participants identifying the negative impact of contemporary welfare ideologies, which have contributed to a dominance of technical practice models and an accompanying loss of structural, activist approaches. Participants in these studies informed that contemporary welfare ...
    View more >
    When social and economic systems disadvantage individuals and groups, social workers have historically been amongst those who protest. The contemporary context provides particular challenges for social workers discontent with welfare service delivery influenced by neo-liberal ideology. Recent research reports on a range of barriers to activist practice, with participants identifying the negative impact of contemporary welfare ideologies, which have contributed to a dominance of technical practice models and an accompanying loss of structural, activist approaches. Participants in these studies informed that contemporary welfare organisations have led to a concealing of activist activities, for fear of reprisal should more open forms of radical practice be attempted. This thesis explores the motivations and behaviours of social workers employed in statutory workplace settings who identified that they undertook covert activist activities as a response to challenges resulting from the current service delivery model. The overarching research question was: What are the experiences of Australian statutory social workers regarding the types of covert activism they practice, and their reasons for doing so? Findings from this research are aimed at informing current discussions on the relevance of radical practice methods in challenging the contemporary welfare model and the role of social workers as agents of change. This study involved fifteen professional social workers involved in statutory work within the fields of health, mental health, child protection and income support in Australia. Qualitative interviews were conducted over a six month period via the method of Email Facilitated Reflective Dialogue. The purpose of the dialogues was to investigate how social work practitioners utilised covert resistance strategies within statutory welfare organisations to challenge organisational-professional conflict and what the experience of doing is like for them. Additionally, the dialogues also explored the identity of this group of practitioners, with the goal of understanding more about who contemporary social work activists are.
    View less >
    Thesis Type
    Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
    Degree Program
    Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
    School
    School of Human Services and Social Work
    DOI
    https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/2921
    Copyright Statement
    The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise.
    Item Access Status
    Public
    Subject
    Welfare service delivery
    Neo-liberal ideology
    Covert activism
    Publication URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10072/367865
    Collection
    • Theses - Higher Degree by Research

    Footer

    Disclaimer

    • Privacy policy
    • Copyright matters
    • CRICOS Provider - 00233E
    • TEQSA: PRV12076

    Tagline

    • Gold Coast
    • Logan
    • Brisbane - Queensland, Australia
    First Peoples of Australia
    • Aboriginal
    • Torres Strait Islander