The Challenges of Social Work within Neoliberalism: Can an Ethical Professional Practice Exist within Unethical Structures?

Abstract

What happens when social workers find themselves working within structures at odds with their professional ethics, structures upon which they depend to earn a living and sustain their families? I explore the answer to this question drawing on my own research on how social workers understand the behaviour of children in State care, what happens in practice to ‘manage’ that behaviour and their ethical and human rights perspective on the situations encountered in practice.

The social workers’ answers are analysed from a framework of psychological defences, as well as from accounts theory, as an attempt to preserve their professional identity for themselves and/or in front of others. As a way forward, I propose an adaptation to social work of Young’s (2013) social connection model of responsibility.