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Politics as Social Work: A Qualitative Study of Emplaced Empathy and Risk Work by British Members of Parliament

Warner, Joanne (2020) Politics as Social Work: A Qualitative Study of Emplaced Empathy and Risk Work by British Members of Parliament. The British Journal of Social Work, . Article Number bcaa167. ISSN 0045-3102. (doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcaa167) (KAR id:83788)

Abstract

The constituency work of British Members of Parliament (MPs) has long been referred to in political circles as a form of social work. This article reports on a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with thirteen MPs. The aim of the research was to find out what characterises their constituency work to understand why it apparently bears comparison with social work. The article draws on the concepts of proximity and place from the mobilities paradigm to articulate the idea of ‘politics as social work’. MPs in the study engaged in face-to-face emotional labour in which they formed and sustained empathic relationships with people and places to represent them. They practised judgement under uncertainty and risk work, and they were embedded in local organisational networks of risk and trust with local authorities and other agencies. The article argues that this analysis of politics as social work provides a deeper understanding of the politics of social work. In the era of the COVID-19 pandemic and its severe socio-economic impact, the importance for social work of the concept of emplaced empathy and the need for our reorientation to place is thrown into particularly sharp focus.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1093/bjsw/bcaa167
Uncontrolled keywords: emotions, empathy, mobilities, place, proximity, risk
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
Depositing User: Jo Warner
Date Deposited: 28 Oct 2020 10:32 UTC
Last Modified: 24 Oct 2022 23:00 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/83788 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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