Abstract

This article is based on a study of the experiences of social workers employed in a public service organisation in the Ethekwini Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the profession of social work commit to the pursuit of human rights, social justice and a better life for all. However, an increasing shift towards neoliberalism and new managerialism impacts on the functions and levels of satisfaction of social workers as they deal with the ideal aspirations of the profession and the realities of their day-to-day practice. Informed by critical theory, the research was inspired by the desire for social workers to use the research process to engage in ethical political resistance.

Highlights

  • The research on which this article is based was designed to understand the experiences of social workers in one public service organisation, the Department of Social Development (DSD), in the Ethekwini region in South Africa

  • POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE IN PRACTICE the social workers who participated in this study indicated that they entered the profession with the noble aspiration of wanting to make a difference, political and government interference frustrated their attempts

  • The results of this study confirm that social workers are confronting “the harsh realities of commodity production: speed-up, routinisation of work, greater work discipline and ... the insistent managerial pressures to reduce labor costs” (Noble, 1999:46)

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Summary

Introduction

The research on which this article is based was designed to understand the experiences of social workers in one public service organisation, the Department of Social Development (DSD), in the Ethekwini region in South Africa. It focused on how social workers explained the discrepancies between their preferred roles and responsibilities and the realities of their day-to-day practice. Sewpaul (2014b, 2014c) highlights the relationship between social work education and research, underscored by critical theory, and democratic practices and social change. One of the chief contributions of critical theory to qualitative research is the awareness of “the political-ideological character of research” (Alvesson & Sköldberg, 2009:11), and the importance of “breaking down the institutional structures and arrangements that reproduce oppressive ideologies” (Rensburg, cited in Henning, 2004:23)

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