Читать книгу Anti-Oppressive Social Work Practice - Prospera Tedam - Страница 60

Experienced social workers may have developed the skills to work within the context of power in their engagement with service users. They will be aware of the situations that call for the exercise of power and possibly control; however, research by Bundy-Fazioli et al. (2013) found that social workers were often hesitant about when and how to exercise their professional power in a manner that would not be experienced negatively by service users. Bar-On (2002) has argued that due to social work being a political activity, it is impossible for it to be devoid of power. It is therefore essential that social workers understand the effects of power at societal and structural levels. The media in the UK has tended to report social workers and social work interventions in a negative light, particularly in child safeguarding cases where reporting has implied the misuse or abuse of power.