Читать книгу The Sage Handbook of Social Constructionist Practice - Группа авторов - Страница 151

Social work as a profession emerged in the early 20th century. Like other professions, social work is characterized by professional education requirements, mission and goal statements that express its benefits to society, self-regulation through a code of ethics, professional organizations that promulgate and oversee professional requirements, and a specialized body of knowledge. This last characteristic has been a source of contention between those who would and would not grant social work full professional status. The basis for this disagreement is that social work has historically drawn from a number of disciplines given its broad range of activities and inclusive view of human functioning. Although such comprehensiveness may be viewed as a strength, the perceived absence of an integrative theory and unique knowledge base has been used to argue against social work's professional status (e.g., Larkin, 2006). Social work has a distinctiveness: a contextual view of human behavior, a social justice mandate, and marginalized and oppressed groups as its primary constituency. Once again, however, opinions vary on the degree, the nature, and the importance of its distinctiveness depending on one's orientation and interests. Social work's distinctive qualities will also vary depending on whether the focus is on its written mandates or how it is practiced, that is, what social workers do. Social work also portrays itself as a socially progressive profession primarily through its written positions on social justice and human rights, race and ethnicity, poverty, and social change. In contrast, the profession is relatively intellectually conservative. By this we mean that its research and analyses largely reflect modernist perspectives. This conservatism seems related to social work's historical struggle to achieve legitimacy and status in the academy and the more recent neo-liberal trends that have become ascendant in academic institutions. Most illustrative of this conservatism has been the dominance of positivistic assumptions in practice and research reinforced by the priority placed on acquiring external funding for research. Therefore, although we will provide illustrations and examples of how a social constructionist orientation can influence social work practice, this should not be taken to mean that such an orientation is representative of practitioners or academics. This situation exists despite the congruence of social constructionist and social work perspectives and ideas, as we will discuss.