The emotional politics of social work and child protection

Abstract

For 40 years or more, social work and child protection have been subject to accelerating cycles of crisis and reform. Each crisis involves intense media and political scrutiny and public outcry following the serious harm or death of a child through extreme abuse or neglect. Policy reforms are characterised by attempts to eradicate risk through tighter controls on professional practice. This book argues that this cycle is driven by collective emotions that do political work. By introducing the concept of ‘emotional politics’, the book highlights how emotions such as disgust, anger and shame are deeply political. They are reflected and activated through political rhetoric, the media and official documents. Emotions in this sense are structured, embedded in institutions and stratified, with particular groups being the focus for anger and shame. Central to understanding emotional politics are the following: emotions relating to gender, social class and ‘race’; the meaning of the child and childhood in cultural, political and socioeconomic terms; the impact of high levels of inequality and economic insecurity; and the so-called emotionalisation of politics. The ideas in the book are based on original research involving the qualitative documentary analysis of newspaper articles, official documents and political speech. The book concludes by arguing for a new emotional politics based on a solidaristic notion of compassion for social suffering and an enhanced public institutional role for social work.

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