Petr Lazar, Oldřich Chytil
Petr Lazar is a Ph.D. student of Social Work at the Faculty of Social Studies, University of Ostrava. His professional interests include the consequences of modernization for social work and the use of social work for people in material deprivation.
Oldřich Chytil is a Professor of Social Work at the Faculty of Social Studies, University of Ostrava. He deals with theories and methods of social work and the consequences of modernisation for social work. He is the director of the European Research Institute for Social Work under the University of Ostrava.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The aim of the presented research is to determine how working conditions of social workers enable them to carry out social work with people in material need in municipalities in the Czech Republic. THEORETICAL BASE: The paper utilizes Edgar Marthinsen’s concept of neoliberalisation of social work. METHODS: Mixed methods side-by-side QUAN(qual) design. A questionnaire survey was used to collect data. OUTCOMES: Working conditions of social workers in municipal authorities only marginally affect the implementation of social work with people in material need. A limiting factor in this finding is the concept of social work as the frequency of social work-related activities, which does not address the quality of activities performed, only their quantity. SOCIAL WORK IMPLICATIONS: The paper concludes with a comparison of the characteristics of neoliberal social work and the research findings. We summarize that social work in municipal authorities after the Social Reform 2012 came into force shows partial signs of neoliberalisation.
Keywords
municipal social work, neoliberalism, neoliberalisation, material need, Social Reform 2012
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