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For several decades, social work and child protection systems have been subject to accelerating cycles of crisis and reform, with each crisis involving intense media and political scrutiny. In understanding the nature and causes of this cycle, little attention has been paid to the importance of collective emotions. Using a range of cases from the UK, and also considering cases from the Netherlands, the US and New Zealand, this book introduces the concept of emotional politics. It shows how collective emotions, such as anger, shame, fear and disgust, are central to constructions of risk and blame, and are generated and reflected by official documents, politicians and the media. The book considers strategies for challenging these 'emotional politics', including identifying models for a more politically engaged stance for the social work profession.

This paper analyses the concept of legitimacy as applied to the use of power in statutory social work with children and families in the UK. It draws on literature from police studies and criminology, in which the concept is a stable one that continues to be heavily researched and analysed. Police and social workers bear comparison in respect of legitimacy because of the significant powers they use on behalf of the state with direct implications for the civil and human rights of their fellow citizens. The paper defines legitimacy in theoretical terms before applying the concept to social work. Here, perceptions of fairness in the distribution of resources, the quality of treatment people receive, and the quality of decision-making are critically examined. The paper then proposes a democratising agenda across the three domains of social work research, policy, and practice. Through challenging social work's legitimacy and analysing its relationship to social democracy, it is argued that new ways may be found to realign practice with the values of human rights and social justice that are said to underpin the profession. Given the severe socioeconomic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on many families, these questions acquire a particular urgency.

This article explores the emotional dimensions of political representation by British Members of Parliament in relation to child protection. The public speech acts and first-hand accounts of three MPs are drawn upon as examples. These highlight different forms of emotional interest representation that arise following the death of a local child from severe abuse or neglect and in response to anxieties in the community about risk. Firstly, I examine the role of the MP in seeking to embody their constituency in the public expression of collective emotional responses and to defend it from feelings of guilt and shame. Personal feelings of guilt and a consciousness of the politician's role in attributing blame are then considered. Thirdly, I explore the role of the MP as trusted envoy for anxieties about risk to individual children within their constituencies. The article draws on Berezin's concept of the secure state and Hochschild's notion of politicians as feeling legislators, and is based on qualitative documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews with MPs. It is argued that the emotional processes outlined are central to understanding the problematic relationship between politics and state social work that fuels the cycle of crisis and reform in children's services in the UK.

AbstractThe article emphasises the importance of making sense of the theoretical debate in the sociology of mental health in order to 'position' the wide range of studies that have contributed to this field within three main approaches. The article indicates ways in which various studies have proved highly influential and continue to form the basis for research, policy and practice. Sociological concepts such as stigma continue to resonate as they highlight the sense in which negative social attitudes often make life harder for those who are already experiencing distress. The politics of risk in mental health, which has become a particularly powerful force in recent years, has made the prevailing climate more and not less stigmatising for those identified with 'mental illness'. The article concludes by arguing that the sociology of mental health continues to offer the conceptual and theoretical foundation from which negative associations can be challenged and overturned.

Debates about the ban on smoking in public places have centred on the right to self-determination and privacy versus the right to health. This paper addresses the issue of smoking in relation to mental health and focuses on the right to dignity and respect. The public health agenda on smoking has involved the mobilisation of stigma to persuade people to give up. The paper argues that this strategy risks adding to the stigma and process of 'othering' that many mental health service users already experience and is also likely to be ineffective in reducing smoking rates, particularly among heavy smokers.

Das Risikokonzept ist heute zentral für alle Bereiche von gesundheitlicher und sozialer Wohlfahrt in Großbritannien. Im Bereich psychischer Gesundheit und insbesondere seit den Maßnahmen zur kommunalen Versorgung in den 1990er Jahren kommt dem Konzept jedoch besondere Aufmerksamkeit zu. Dabei kamen bisher vor allem die Risiken in den Blick, die von Personen mit psychischen Erkrankungen oder in psychischer Not ausgehen, aber nicht die Risiken, mit denen diese selbst konfrontiert sind. Der vorliegende Beitrag beruht auf qualitativem Material, das mit Hilfe teilstandardisierter Interviews mit 39 Sozialarbeitern in England erhoben wurde, und entwickelt einen theoretischen Rahmen für die Risiken im Kontext des Dienstes für geistige Gesundheit. Anhand der Daten wird illustriert, dass sich die Bedeutung von Risiken für die Politik und die professionelle Praxis mit drei grundlegenden Konzepten fassen lässt: "gefährliche Personen", "(psychotische) Erkrankung" und "soziale Kontexte". Zum einen verorteten Sozialarbeiter Risiken in "gefährlichen Personen". Dabei stellte der junge schwarze Mann mit einer Schizophreniediagnose den Idealtypus eines gefährlichen Individuums dar. Zudem wurden Risiken aber auch innerhalb einer Person verortet bzw. auf eine bestimmte Erkrankung bezogen. Schließlich wurden Risiken sozialen Kontexten und spezifischen Umständen zugeordnet, die gefährliches Verhalten, so die befragten Sozialarbeiter, fördern. Abschließend wird gezeigt, wie der entwickelte theoretische Rahmen in anderen Kontexten nutzbringend angewendet werden kann. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0601310 ; The concept of risk is now central to all areas of health and social welfare in the UK, although its exact character in relation to different groups varies. It has been argued that risk in mental health has been characterised by a preoccupation with the perceived risk of violence to others posed by those experiencing mental distress, particularly since the implementation of community care policies in the 1990s. The present paper draws on ...

Das Risikokonzept ist heute zentral für alle Bereiche von gesundheitlicher und sozialer Wohlfahrt in Großbritannien. Im Bereich psychischer Gesundheit und insbesondere seit den Maßnahmen zur kommunalen Versorgung in den 1990er Jahren kommt dem Konzept jedoch besondere Aufmerksamkeit zu. Dabei kamen bisher vor allem die Risiken in den Blick, die von Personen mit psychischen Erkrankungen oder in psychischer Not ausgehen, aber nicht die Risiken, mit denen diese selbst konfrontiert sind. Der vorliegende Beitrag beruht auf qualitativem Material, das mit Hilfe teilstandardisierter Interviews mit 39 Sozialarbeitern in England erhoben wurde, und entwickelt einen theoretischen Rahmen für die Risiken im Kontext des Dienstes für geistige Gesundheit. Anhand der Daten wird illustriert, dass sich die Bedeutung von Risiken für die Politik und die professionelle Praxis mit drei grundlegenden Konzepten fassen lässt: "gefährliche Personen", "(psychotische) Erkrankung" und "soziale Kontexte". Zum einen verorteten Sozialarbeiter Risiken in "gefährlichen Personen". Dabei stellte der junge schwarze Mann mit einer Schizophreniediagnose den Idealtypus eines gefährlichen Individuums dar. Zudem wurden Risiken aber auch innerhalb einer Person verortet bzw. auf eine bestimmte Erkrankung bezogen. Schließlich wurden Risiken sozialen Kontexten und spezifischen Umständen zugeordnet, die gefährliches Verhalten, so die befragten Sozialarbeiter, fördern. Abschließend wird gezeigt, wie der entwickelte theoretische Rahmen in anderen Kontexten nutzbringend angewendet werden kann.

This article explores how the child protection system currently operates in England. It analyses how policy and practice has developed, and articulates the need for an alternative approach. It draws from the social model as applied in the fields of disability and mental health, to begin to sketch out more hopeful and progressive possibilities for children, families and communities. The social model specifically draws attention to the economic, environmental and cultural barriers faced by people with differing levels of (dis)ability, but has not been used to think about 'child protection', an area of work in England that is dominated by a focus on risk and risk aversion. This area has paid limited attention to the barriers to ensuring children and young people are cared for safely within families and communities, and the social determinants of much of the harms they experience have not been recognised because of the focus on individualised risk factors.

Cover -- Contents -- Contributors -- Acknowledgements -- 1 The Historical Context of the Risk Paradigm in Mental Health Policy and Practice: How Did We Get Here? -- Introduction -- Risk society, the 'other' and neoliberalism -- Community care and the 'shift to risk' -- Risk, dangerousness and prediction in mental health practice -- The chapters: Challenges to the dominance of 'risk' -- Conclusion -- References -- 2 Understanding Risk and Coercion in the Use of Community-Based Mental Health Laws -- Introduction -- Risk and mental health and coercive laws -- Risk, mental health and professional decision making -- Conclusion -- References -- 3 Risk Thinking and the Priorities of Mental Health Social Work Organizations -- Introduction -- Managerialism and the rise of risk -- The privatization of risk -- Fear and paranoia: The impact of risk-distorted priorities on mental health policy, services and practices -- Risk-distorted priorities: The impact on real practice and real lives -- Concluding reflections -- References -- 4 Moving Beyond Neoliberal Rationalities of Risk in Mental Health Policy and Practice -- Introduction -- Neoliberal welfare risk rationalities and mental health -- Is it possible to move beyond neoliberal risk rationalities in mental health? -- Critically reflecting on mental health and risk rationalities by focusing on human rights and social justice -- Using critical reflection on mental health risk rationalities -- Conclusion -- References -- 5 Directions for Policy and Practice from the Lived Experience of Mental Health Problems -- Introduction -- Dawn's story: The social construction of a sandwich -- Gerry's story: 'What has it got to do with me?' -- Challenging fixed ideas of risk through social suffering -- A path to social justice and human rights? -- Concluding thoughts: Learning to live with uncertainty -- References.

Social Policy Review provides students, academics and all those interested in welfare issues with critical analyses of progress and change in areas of major interest during the past year. Contributions reflect key themes in the UK and internationally. The first part of the collection focuses on developments and change in core UK social policy areas. Part two provides in-depth analyses of topical issues from both UK and international perspectives, while this year's themed section examines 'Migration and social policy'