Mid Sweden University

An over-consumptive neoliberal world, fuelled largely by media messages that insidiously lead people to define their worth by their purchasing choices and purchasing power, is contributing to the destruction of the planet and pushing the Earth beyond acceptable tipping points, posing grave threats to human and planetary well-being. If social work is to play a meaningful role in challenging the hegemony of neoliberalism and human-induced climate change and their disastrous consequences, it must disarticulate itself from modernist, positivist orientations and embrace an emancipatory praxis with a focus on the politicisation of the self and of the profession. Emancipatory praxis holds the potential to combine a spiritual cosmocentricism, based on self-enlightenment and altered conceptualisations of self, other and nature, and the pragmatic aspects of liberation in freeing ourselves from cultural, political and capitalistic ideological hegemony to enable shifts towards ecosocial justice.

The climate crisis is accelerating even quicker than feared with devastating consequences for nature, animals and especially people that social workers engage with. This article, drawing on empirical data from qualitative research with social work practitioners in Sweden, highlights the gaps between global rhetoric and on-the-ground realities, and the huge chasm between social worker's commitment to climate justice on a personal level and their professional practice. Informed by reflexive thematic analysis and the descriptive-interpretive research design, the empirical data show that while social workers reflect deep awareness of the importance of responding to climate change, understanding it as everyone's responsibility, they see the call to action as being far removed from the demands of daily practice. There are strong indications that global patterns of individualization, specialization and the impositions of efficiency and narrowly defined outcomes, featured of neoliberalism and new public management, influence social workers' scope of work in decided ways. The global, national and institutional constraints on the roles of social workers raise ethical issues in relation to the imperative that all social workers address issues of ecosocial justice. The data suggest that if there were spaces for dialogue and reflexivity in their workspaces, and educational political and organizational support for group and community-based approaches, social workers would be willing to live up to the global imperatives to fulfill their roles in contributing towards ecosocial justice. The implications for the politicization of social work and the importance of emancipatory praxis in social work education and practice are discussed.

The climate crisis is accelerating even quicker than feared and has devastating consequences for nature, animals and the people, especially people that social workers engage with. Sweden has, despite severe cutdowns, an international reputation for being a sucessful welfare state and it has  a strong self-conceptualisation as being a role model for environmental sustainability. Yet, Swedes have one of the highest ecological footprints on earth on account of high consumption rates. The 2022 People’s Charter exhort social workers across the globe to embrace  eco-social justice and environmental sustainability, with the first call to action framed as Ecological integrity: From exploitation to recognising the rights of nature for sustainable co-existence. This presentation, drawn from qualitative research with social workers in Sweden, highlights the gaps between global rhetoric and on the ground realities, and the huge chasm between social worker’s commitment to climate justice on a personal level and their professional practice. The empirical data show that while social workers are aware of the importance of responding to climate change, they see the call to action as being far removed from the demands of daily practice. There are strong indications that individualization, specialization and the impositions of efficiency and narrowly defined outcomes, which are features of neoliberalism and new public management, influence social workers’ scope of work in decided ways. We discuss the implications of these for the politization of social work and the importance of an emancipatory praxis in social work education and practice. 

Fönstret för att säkra en hållbar framtid för alla är på väg att stängas. Även vi forskare måste fråga oss vilka vi vill vara i denna avgörande tid för mänskligheten. Det skriver några av de forskare som skrev under Forskarupproret i Aftonbladet, i en replik till Björn Hassler i den pågående debatten i Curie om forskare och aktivism.

As climate change is linked with the day-to-day struggles of people that social workers engage with, it has direct and immediate relevance for the profession. This ongoing study explores in which ways social workers are conscious of and integrate climate change discourses and interventions into their daily work as a part of a re-politicizing and emancipatory social work approach.  

Method: So far, 12 semi-structured interviews with social workers have been conducted.  

Findings: The urgency of the issue is strongly felt in many of their (private) consciousnesses and climate-related adaptations are also listed in the professional context. However, these changes are not seen as sufficient to significantly reduce the footprint, and the issue of climate change is not actively addressed. SW's express that they see no scope for thinking or acting on climate-related issues. The neoliberalisation of the "social market" is seen by most as restrictive, as is the increasingly individualised nature of work. As a result of NPM, SW's describe their tasks being increasingly specified, fragmented and manual based, leading to a limitation of their ability to act. They express a lack of both knowledge and tools to work on the topic and call for clear elements in training and continuing education.

Conclusion: SW's need to further engender consciousness and facilitate change towards a reconceptualization of social work as a politicized profession so that they can address the multiplicity of precursors to and consequences of Climate Change in order to prepare for a society in Climate Crisis.