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BJSW Advance Access originally published online on July 31, 2007
British Journal of Social Work 2009 39(1):113-127; doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcm072
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.

Social Work and the Shift from ‘Welfare’ to ‘Justice’

Lieve Bradt and Maria Bouverne-De Bie

Lieve Bradt is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Social Welfare Studies at Ghent University. Her research interests include restorative justice for young and adult offenders.

Maria Bouverne-De Bie is Professor at the Department of Social Welfare Studies at Ghent University. Her main research interests centre on (forensic) social work and social pedagogy.

Correspondence to Lieve Bradt, Ghent University, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Department of Social Welfare Studies, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000 Gent, Belgium. E-mail: Lieve.Bradt{at}UGent.be


  Abstract

It has become increasingly clear that the emancipatory capacity of social work has been eroded. Several scholars link this to the influence of neo-liberal and ‘Third Way’ thinking. However, it has recently been argued that social work was not only a victim of these new influences, but that it is also very adaptable to the influence of such new ideas (Jordan, 2004) and not very critical about its own role in these changes (Lorenz, 2005). In this article, we will further develop this criticism, by focusing on the debate surrounding youth delinquency. According to Sharland (2006), youth delinquency has become someone else’s problem. By analysing the role of social work within the youth justice system, the article shows that (i) social work has not only been the victim of recent changes, but that it has also withdrawn from the debate on youth justice, and (ii) that this process is related to how social work is defined as a methodical answer to the problem of youth delinquency.

Keywords: ‘tough love’ social work, youth justice reform, welfare–justice debate, critical social work


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This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Critical Social PolicyHome page
F. Coussee, G. Roets, and M. De Bie
Empowering the powerful: Challenging hidden processes of marginalization in youth work policy and practice in Belgium
Critical Social Policy, August 1, 2009; 29(3): 421 - 442.
[Abstract] [PDF]


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