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Social work is a very young profession in Hungary. Radical social work exists despite the fact that in the eyes of the current authoritarian ‘hybrid’ regime, the ‘Global definition of social work’ is also radical. Its ideas are primarily popular among young people and those who criticise the conceptual framework of aid, as defined by the governing party. In practice, non-governmental organisations, with their own approach, provide services.
This article examines the intersection between voluntary sector work, emotions, and remote service provision among frontline staff supporting unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee children online during and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on the findings of two interrelated projects, we consider how frontline workers experienced and managed digital emotions and emotional labour. Like professionals in other sectors, staff in the refugee sector experienced stress and overwhelm due to challenges faced during the rapid digitisation of the sector at a time of crisis. The findings also highlighted nuanced emotional experiences that were distinct to staff working remotely with unaccompanied refugee children, such as role dissatisfaction and empathy. Emotional labour was particularly intense for staff working in the refugee sector who needed to establish online boundaries with the young people due to their heightened vulnerabilities. The study also demonstrated that training on how to cope with digital emotions was beneficial to staff’s self-esteem and knowledge.
This article investigates the emergence of intersectionality in EU policy discourses on gender equality in science and research, focusing on how it transforms existing equality politics. Based on critical policy analysis, we identify both limitations and potentials of this development. First, we find that, while documents often focus on the individual dimension of intersectionality, they do not necessarily neglect the structural dimension, as individuals’ experiences are sometimes used to illustrate structural aspects at work. Second, despite increasing mentions of intersectionality, we find that policy discourses remain dominated by a strong focus on gender. Third, we argue that the emergence of intersectionality reflects a shift from striving for sameness between men and women towards a neoliberal conception of valuing differences equally. This shift, while promising greater inclusivity, also risks depoliticizing and commodifying diversity. Our findings underscore the need for policies that genuinely address intersecting inequalities, advancing beyond individualistic and gender-centric approaches.
The subjects of leadership and care ethics have a limited presence in the voluntary sector literature. However, interest has grown in the former in recent years, and the latter has been suggested as a potential counter discourse to contemporary neoliberal narratives of the sector. What is missing from these accounts is an acknowledgement of the often unresolvable ethical and leadership tensions that are encountered in practice contexts. This article offers a nuanced view of how care ethics flows through leadership, using empirical data to illuminate an alternative reading of the literature. It contributes to debates around leadership in the voluntary sector by both offering a nuanced, ethically inflected theoretical understanding and providing an approach through which to inform leadership practice.
This article contends that deskilling is best understood not as a distinct phenomenon, but as a component of a process Marx (1993: 694) called ‘absorption’. Absorption involves not only the extraction of capacities from labour but also their implementation in machines. The article reads Braverman’s (1998) analysis of Taylorism as a demonstration of how absorption entails a specific labour process of its own, which I call the absorption process. The nature of the absorption process is contingent on many social factors. This article focuses on a technical factor: the particular machines used to implement captured skills and knowledge, called here the infrastructure of absorption. Since technological capacities are ever-evolving under capital due to the continual revolutionizing of the means of production, infrastructures of absorption change over time and this necessitates new absorption processes. Braverman (1998: 132) pointed to a qualitative change in absorption with the digital computer, which he described in terms of a new ‘universality of the machine’. While Braverman rightly pointed out the computer as a novel infrastructure, he did not discern qualitative changes to the absorption process, seeing instead the extension of Taylorist processes of capture of knowledge and skill. I contend that a qualitative shift has become apparent since the rise of machine learning in around 2015. Machine learning enables a different absorption process of emergence which does not require the codification of captured knowledge. Much labour process theory (LPT) (and adjacent) research presumes that deskilling and automation operate in terms of a process of capture, however, I show that emergence presents qualitatively different means for both. I suggest that the infrastructure of machine learning presents the possibility of task-agnostic automation.
This study describes and assesses the effectiveness of a brief training intervention to prevent sexual harassment (SH) in higher education. The aim of the training is to reduce the acceptance of SH myths and to increase the sensitivity towards sexist remarks (piropos). A quasi-experimental pre-post study with Spanish university students (N=102) was carried out. Data were collected through an online survey before and after the face-to-face training took place. The results indicate positive and significant effects of the training. Repeated measures ANOVA showed lower myth acceptance and higher rejection of piropos after the training. Further, training increased rejection of piropos for male more than for female participants. This study expands the limited research on the effectiveness of SH trainings, particularly in the higher education context. Effective strategies for universities to develop SH prevention programmes and promote a safe learning environment are discussed.
This chapter presents a doctrinal analysis of the issue of capacity to consent to sexual relations at the intersection of the civil and criminal law, exploring the various aspects of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Sexual Offences Act 2003. The chapter starts with the position outlined by the Supreme Court in A Local Authority v JB, with which the authors agree, to argue that ‘consent’ as a concept ought to be part of the information relevant to a decision to engage in sex. It then goes on to explore the various boundaries between the civil and criminal legal frameworks regarding capacity to consent to sex, justifying the differences in approach through analysing their differing theoretical and policy functions. Furthermore, the chapter considers whether it is right to view the boundaries between the civil and criminal law here as fixed or unchangeable, and whether, instead, we might usefully learn from a hybrid approach to dealing with the problem of sexual offending towards vulnerable adults.
This chapter examines the approaches and enablers for health and social care service design. It begins by discussing the steps in service design, the scale and circumstances that can affect approaches, and the key phases. The chapter then considers the impact of incumbent services and limited finance on design processes. Co-production is essential for effective design, and the success factors and approaches for implementing co-production with a range of groups, including people in communities and the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector, are explored. The importance of the VCSE alliance model is considered. To capture the efforts involved in the design process, the service specification is described and writing tips are provided. Finally, some of the key issues facing those designing services are examined, including capacity and demand, integrated services, workforce, and shared care records.
There are number of challenges facing health and social care in the future, but this chapter examines those that are key for future planning and readiness. The first challenge discussed is understanding the ageing population and how to plan and design services for the growing demand. The second is the technology revolution, and this covers the priorities of the NHS in the Long Term Plan, examples of change, and future planning. The third is the global pandemic, and the chapter unpicks some of the lasting impacts and how the NHS can ready itself for similar events with actions such as promoting flexibility in delivery and supporting communities to be self-sufficient. Finally, the environmental crisis is discussed in terms of its impact on the NHS, but also the impact of the NHS as deliverers of care services with a large carbon footprint. There is examination of the NHS commitment to sustainability along with suggested local actions and examples of change.
As shown throughout this edited collection, not only has the law around capacity, consent and sexual relationships recently undergone shifts in the form of the Supreme Court case of A Local Authority v JB [2021] UKSC 52, but it is an area of increasing importance for professionals and practitioners working in areas such as social work, health or supporting victims of sexual abuse. The aim of this collection has not been to resolve legal or practical issues, but to re/open some of the existing discussions and debates on mental capacity and sex, as well as offering new perspectives. In doing so, this collection has shown that such conversations and debates must not focus solely on the doctrinal questions which have historically tended to preoccupy lawyers but must also consider the challenges and opportunities the legal framework poses for disabled adults, and for professionals working in health, social care and sectors beyond. It is undoubtedly the case that A Local Authority v JB (JB), as well as many of the other decisions from the lower courts outlined in the Introduction and throughout the chapters, have precipitated a renewed focus on mental capacity and sex, often driven by legally and factually complex cases where there may be concerns about sexual abuse. The clarification offered by the Supreme Court in JB as to what is considered relevant information under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, as well as the relationship between the civil and criminal law frameworks, is – in many ways – to be welcomed.
