Steve Kirkwood
University of Edinburgh, Social Work, Faculty Member
Meetings between social workers and clients in child protection are highly sensitive and frequently contested. Much is at stake in terms of protecting identities and ultimately possibly child removal. It is not surprising then that... more
Meetings between social workers and clients in child protection are highly sensitive
and frequently contested. Much is at stake in terms of protecting identities
and ultimately possibly child removal. It is not surprising then that disagreements
occur and strong positions are defended in encounters between social
workers and clients. In this paper, the authors use a combination of a case study
approach and micro sequential analysis. The case study approach captures how
arguments are produced and managed across successive social work encounters
over a longer period of time. Additionally, the sequential analysis of one
encounter demonstrates the relevance of discourse and conversation analytic
concepts such as categorization, entitlement and accountability for a more detailed
understanding of how argument and disagreement manifest themselves
interactionally. The interactional sequence involves a family supervisor and a
mother in the Netherlands. The paper examines key features of an argument in
the context of child protection and engages with the interactional consequences
for both worker and client. By providing insight into how arguments unfold over
successive social work encounters, the paper contributes to an understanding
of how stalemate positions come about and are resolved (or not). Adding to the
picture, a detailed understanding of the real-time management of disagreement
in interaction is useful in fostering social work practitioners’ awareness of how
argumentative “logics” may be taking over.
and frequently contested. Much is at stake in terms of protecting identities
and ultimately possibly child removal. It is not surprising then that disagreements
occur and strong positions are defended in encounters between social
workers and clients. In this paper, the authors use a combination of a case study
approach and micro sequential analysis. The case study approach captures how
arguments are produced and managed across successive social work encounters
over a longer period of time. Additionally, the sequential analysis of one
encounter demonstrates the relevance of discourse and conversation analytic
concepts such as categorization, entitlement and accountability for a more detailed
understanding of how argument and disagreement manifest themselves
interactionally. The interactional sequence involves a family supervisor and a
mother in the Netherlands. The paper examines key features of an argument in
the context of child protection and engages with the interactional consequences
for both worker and client. By providing insight into how arguments unfold over
successive social work encounters, the paper contributes to an understanding
of how stalemate positions come about and are resolved (or not). Adding to the
picture, a detailed understanding of the real-time management of disagreement
in interaction is useful in fostering social work practitioners’ awareness of how
argumentative “logics” may be taking over.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The development of scholarship related to particular categories of people who are subject to different forms of social control often results in subfields that become or remain isolated from each other. As an example, theory and research... more
The development of scholarship related to particular categories of people who are subject to different forms of social control often results in subfields that become or remain isolated from each other. As an example, theory and research relating to the reintegration of ex-offenders and the integration of asylum seekers have developed almost completely independently. However, both processes involve people who are marginalized and stigmatized through legal and social processes, and policies and practices in the two fields share somewhat similar concepts and goals. This article therefore seeks to identify insights through a critical comparison of these two areas of research, theory and practice, with the intention of enriching our understanding of both. This comparison highlights that the frameworks reviewed here enable us to move beyond a narrow focus on service user’s behaviours, needs or risks, and into an examination of questions of identity, belonging and justice.
Research Interests:
Previous research on the integration of asylum seekers and refugees has aimed to develop conceptual frameworks for understanding integration or to measure the extent to which people are integrated. However, this research tends to pay... more
Previous research on the integration of asylum seekers and refugees has aimed to develop conceptual frameworks for understanding integration or to measure the extent to which people are integrated. However, this research tends to pay insufficient attention to the rhetorical functions of integration discourse. The current study addresses this gap through a discursive analysis of ‘lay’ accounts of asylum seeker and refugee integration in Glasgow, Scotland. The analysis highlights that accounts of integration ‘failure’ may support ‘two-way’ conceptions of integration while still blaming asylum seekers for any lack of integration. Furthermore, accounts of integration ‘success’ may reinforce assimilationist policies or otherwise function to reinforce the view that adult asylum seekers generally do not integrate. The analysis highlights the importance of attending to the rhetorical functions of integration discourse in order to understand how particular policies and practices are supported or criticized at the community level at which integration takes place.
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The concept of ‘integration’ plays an important role in policy and practice regarding the settlement of migrants, yet the term is used in a variety of ways. This article examines how practitioners who support the integration of refugees... more
The concept of ‘integration’ plays an important role in policy and practice regarding the settlement of migrants, yet the term is used in a variety of ways. This article examines how practitioners who support the integration of refugees in Scotland construct ‘integration’ at the community level to justify or challenge particular policies and sets of social relations. Analysis shows that integration can be worked up in contexts involving (a) descriptions of ‘us’ and ‘them’ in relation to a single community, (b) social inclusion of those in multiple communities, or (c) group level intercultural contact. Each version of integration is bound up with different attributions of agency for advancing integration and attributions of blame for current problems. Instead of relying upon a concept that is so open to multiple uses, local organisations might usefully specify outcomes in terms of social actors and interactions.
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Recent discursive research has shown that constructions of place may function to regulate social relations and reinforce particular notions of belonging. However, extant discursive research on place-identity has so far neglected the... more
Recent discursive research has shown that constructions of place may function to regulate social relations and reinforce particular notions of belonging. However, extant discursive research on place-identity has so far neglected the mutually constitutive relationships between constructions of place and identity in legitimising people’s presence. To address this gap, this study, undertaken in Scotland, applies the notion of place-identity to the discursive analysis of interviews with asylum seekers and refugees, people who work in organisations that support asylum seekers and refugees, and locals who live in areas where asylum seekers and refugees tend to be housed. The analysis suggests that constructions of asylum seekers’ and refugees’ countries of origin as dangerous, and the host society as relatively problem-free, function to constitute their identities as legitimate and to justify their presence in the host society. Moreover, constructions of place may work to portray refugees and asylum seekers as benefiting the local community and as belonging more than certain other locals. In contrast, constructing the host society as ‘full’ functions to oppose their presence through portraying them as not being able to belong. This demonstrates the mutually constitutive roles of place and identity in legitimising or resisting people’s movement and belonging.
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Refugees and asylum seekers may find themselves in a dilemma in their countries of asylum. Despite potentially being subject to harsh aspects of the asylum system, such as detention, it may be difficult for them to voice criticism without... more
Refugees and asylum seekers may find themselves in a dilemma in their countries of asylum. Despite potentially being subject to harsh aspects of the asylum system, such as detention, it may be difficult for them to voice criticism without risking being treated as selfinterested or ungrateful by members of the host society. For instance,'complaints', such as accusations of racism, could be taken by members of the host society as undermining the severity of the persecution they fled.
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Previous discursive research has found that minority group members may deny or downplay the existence of discrimination. However, to date, little research has addressed the issue of violence against minority group members. This study... more
Previous discursive research has found that minority group members may deny or downplay the existence of discrimination. However, to date, little research has addressed the issue of violence against minority group members. This study therefore draws on interviews with asylum seekers and refugees in a Scottish city to analyse their reports of violence committed against them. One form of reporting violence was by way of a complaint available to any speaker, in making no reference to attributes of attackers or victim.
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he Palestinian-Israeli conflict turned into an armed crisis from the 27th of December 2008 to 22nd of January 2009. Instances of such armed conflict make issues of accountability highly pertinent. In this paper we analyse media news... more
he Palestinian-Israeli conflict turned into an armed crisis from the 27th of December 2008 to 22nd of January 2009. Instances of such armed conflict make issues of accountability highly pertinent. In this paper we analyse media news interviews conducted with then Israeli political leadership after the start of the Gaza Crisis.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
of Supported Accommodation Services for ex-offenders (McIvor & Taylor, 2000). Research conducted on Supported Accommodation Services for ex-offenders in the Grampian region of Scotland, including Sacro's Supported Accommodation... more
of Supported Accommodation Services for ex-offenders (McIvor & Taylor, 2000). Research conducted on Supported Accommodation Services for ex-offenders in the Grampian region of Scotland, including Sacro's Supported Accommodation Service based in Aberdeen, found that most of the people who accessed these services believed they had made personal progress since coming to the projects, with several stating they that had stopped offending and/or reduced their drug and/or alcohol misuse (McIvor & Taylor, 1994). The support ...
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This paper examines the links between homelessness and offending and provides a description of supported accommodation services provided by Sacro for offenders in Scotland and a summary of some of the main findings from research on the... more
This paper examines the links between homelessness and offending and provides a description of supported accommodation services provided by Sacro for offenders in Scotland and a summary of some of the main findings from research on the impact of supported accommodation for offenders. Finally, the paper identifies a set of 'critical issues' for the consideration of practitioners that arise from the research and which may hinder the ability of the ex-offender to 'move on'.
Three public submissions are discursively analysed to understand how history, identity and equality are used to legitimise positions on indigenous rights claims over the foreshore and seabed in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The first submission... more
Three public submissions are discursively analysed to understand how history, identity and equality are used to legitimise positions on indigenous rights claims over the foreshore and seabed in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The first submission illustrates the Standard Story of ethnic relations, whereby the ethnic majority is unmarked, colonisation is construed as unrelated to the present, and a tolerant, unified nation is constructed to exclude ‘divisive’ indigenous rights. In contrast, the second submission legitimises the claims by flagging the position of the ethnic majority, construing colonisation as an ongoing process that continues to favour Pakeha (white) New Zealanders over Maori. The third submission works up the similarity between indigenous rights and general property rights, negotiating the relationship between equal treatment and self-determination to legitimise the claims. We argue that discursive research on discrimination should approach texts as contributions to a dialectics of racism and anti-racism. This is useful for gaining a better understanding of oppressive discourses, and developing arguments that actively challenge discrimination. The Treaty of Waitangi provides Pakeha New Zealanders with discursive resources for constructing the subject position of a ‘partnership’ with Maori that legitimises the positions of both groups within a shared national identity. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.