Historical and contemporary opportunities to assert social work's political commitment between private and public sphere

The Corona pandemic evidenced the profound uncertainties over whether securing one's welfare is a private or a public concern since neoliberal policies had promoted individualisation and privatisation on all fronts. This historical overview of key moments in the development of social work summ...

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Main Author: Walter Lorenz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Social Work & Society 2024-06-01
Series:Social Work and Society
Subjects:
Online Access:http://132.195.130.183/index.php/sws/article/view/1721
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author Walter Lorenz
author_facet Walter Lorenz
author_sort Walter Lorenz
collection DOAJ
description The Corona pandemic evidenced the profound uncertainties over whether securing one's welfare is a private or a public concern since neoliberal policies had promoted individualisation and privatisation on all fronts. This historical overview of key moments in the development of social work summarises the transformative role this profession assumed in the face of political tendencies to impose splits between a national and an international orientation, scientific neutrality and the recognition of diverse identity claims, personal and public responsibility, care and control. Overcoming these dilemmas requires an ethical commitment in giving situation-specific assistance and a political commitment towards building a public sphere that can effectively raise personal concerns in terms of public and indeed international rights. In this way social work can contribute to trust-building in participatively and reflectively grounded expertise and thereby the strengthening of democratic processes.
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spelling doaj-art-76ffe3c0a66f4648bcb7a30af3b8ca6b2025-08-20T03:58:32ZengSocial Work & SocietySocial Work and Society1613-89532024-06-01212Historical and contemporary opportunities to assert social work's political commitment between private and public sphereWalter Lorenz The Corona pandemic evidenced the profound uncertainties over whether securing one's welfare is a private or a public concern since neoliberal policies had promoted individualisation and privatisation on all fronts. This historical overview of key moments in the development of social work summarises the transformative role this profession assumed in the face of political tendencies to impose splits between a national and an international orientation, scientific neutrality and the recognition of diverse identity claims, personal and public responsibility, care and control. Overcoming these dilemmas requires an ethical commitment in giving situation-specific assistance and a political commitment towards building a public sphere that can effectively raise personal concerns in terms of public and indeed international rights. In this way social work can contribute to trust-building in participatively and reflectively grounded expertise and thereby the strengthening of democratic processes. http://132.195.130.183/index.php/sws/article/view/1721social work historyinternational social workneoliberalismCorona pandemicdiversity of identitiesreflectivity
spellingShingle Walter Lorenz
Historical and contemporary opportunities to assert social work's political commitment between private and public sphere
Social Work and Society
social work history
international social work
neoliberalism
Corona pandemic
diversity of identities
reflectivity
title Historical and contemporary opportunities to assert social work's political commitment between private and public sphere
title_full Historical and contemporary opportunities to assert social work's political commitment between private and public sphere
title_fullStr Historical and contemporary opportunities to assert social work's political commitment between private and public sphere
title_full_unstemmed Historical and contemporary opportunities to assert social work's political commitment between private and public sphere
title_short Historical and contemporary opportunities to assert social work's political commitment between private and public sphere
title_sort historical and contemporary opportunities to assert social work s political commitment between private and public sphere
topic social work history
international social work
neoliberalism
Corona pandemic
diversity of identities
reflectivity
url http://132.195.130.183/index.php/sws/article/view/1721
work_keys_str_mv AT walterlorenz historicalandcontemporaryopportunitiestoassertsocialworkspoliticalcommitmentbetweenprivateandpublicsphere