Pride and shame in the creation of child and family social work

Abstract

This chapter considers the role of pride and shame in creating, maintaining and disrupting practices that have resulted in child and family social work. As people sought to develop ways of addressing social issues related to children and families, different discourses on children, families and social issues provided competing and conflicting messages about what was praiseworthy and shameful behaviour. Different representations of social work practice can, therefore, be seen to have been constructed within these competing discourses. This chapter outlines these representations as social administration, social policing, activism, therapy and practical help, demonstrating how pride and shame were central components in how these practices were institutionalised. This chapter then analyses how a discourse of neoliberalism has sought to change the boundaries for praiseworthy and shameful behaviour to reconfigure professional practice.