Michel Foucault and Dorothy Smith in case file research: Strange bed-fellows or complementary thinkers?

The aim of this article is to provide an exploration of how the work of two theorists with notably different stances could be used effectively to enhance critical research methods in relation to the history of child welfare social work. Our proposition is that the design and implementation of child welfare policies, practices and discourses could considerably benefit from a more historically well grounded scholarship that enables actors to connect their present concerns with the broader historical dynamics of social regulation. The article begins with a statement of the ‘problem’ and our questions to justify our reasons for engaging in this exploration. The article reports on the authors’ …

Armeliaisuus, yhteisöapu, sosiaaliturva : suomalaisten sosiaalisen turvan historia

Making social citizenship : conceptual practices from the Finnish poor law to professional social work

Sosiaalityö ja vaikuttaminen

Actors, Texts, and Power in the History of Social Work : A paper for conference on "Post-modernism and social work" Ambleside, U.K., April 17-20, 1996

This paper is an introduction to the approach and method that I have developed in a recent study which aim is to trace the conceptual and practical history of Finnish poor relief and social work during the period when they modernized, i.e. were transformed from a voluntary activity based on local knowledge into textually coordinated professions. When planning the study and choosing the approach, I wanted to work out a method which helps to overcome the contradictions between ‘theory’ and ‘practice’ in social work in interpreting its modernization. I believe that every epoch needs a new interpretation of history; an interpretation which begins from its own premises. Many consider our time po…

Hyvinvointivaltion tulevaisuus?