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BJSW Advance Access published online on August 12, 2009
British Journal of Social Work, doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcp085
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.

Further Reflections on Habermas's Contribution to Discourse in Child Protection: An Examination of Power in Social Life

Stan Houston

Dr Stan Houston is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the Queen's University Belfast.

Correspondence to Dr Stan Houston, School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work, Queen's University Belfast, 6 College Park, Belfast, UK. E-mail: s.houston{at}qub.ac.uk


  Abstract

Hayes and Houston's positive review of Habermas's contribution to discourse in family group conferences (in this journal) has been challenged by Garrett. In this paper, one of the authors replies to Garrett but extends the analysis through a more considered, developed and detailed examination of Habermas's thoughts on power in social life. This leads to a conceptual framework that enables the participants in the conference to exercise power in a positive manner. In developing this earlier analysis, the paper also acknowledges Garrett's argument that Bourdieu helps us to understand the nature of constraining social structures in child protection. However, Bourdieu's ideas are subsequently challenged on the grounds that they lack a competent formulation on human agency—a faculty that Habermas cogently elucidates. This enlarged understanding of agency, it is argued, offers a theoretical resource that fits better with the ethos of emancipatory social work.

Keywords: Habermas, power, family group conference, child protection, Bourdieu


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