Informace o publikaci
Beyond Heroes and Villains: The Hidden Forces Shaping Social Work History
| Autoři | |
|---|---|
| Rok publikování | 2025 |
| Druh | Další prezentace na konferencích |
| Fakulta / Pracoviště MU | |
| Citace | |
| Popis | This paper examines the interplay between two underexplored forces shaping the history of social work: individual interests and human stupidity. The study critiques the compliance-resistance narrative in social work history by drawing on Cipolla’s concept of human stupidity as a pervasive and impactful phenomenon and a relational concept of individual interests as context-sensitive drivers of human action. The compliance-resistance narrative simplifies the thinking about social work history into dichotomies of heroes and villains, compliance and defiance. In contrast, this paper offers an alternative lens that emphasizes the micro-economy of everyday individual and group functioning within their specific contexts. By moving beyond moralized storytelling, the paper highlights how the confluence of interests, reflective processes, and seemingly irrational behaviours shape social work policy and practice. It underscores the importance of embracing complexity to understand social work’s historical trajectory as a mosaic of contextual interactions rather than a conflict-driven evolution. This perspective reframes the social work field’s historical understanding and provides a richer framework for analysing present-day policy engagements and professional identities. |