'Race', Gender, Social Welfare

This book explores the relationship between 'race', gender and policy to develop an important and original argument about social welfare and racial formation in the late twentieth century. The book presents a layered and finely textured analysis of the issue of 'ethnic minority' women in professional social work in Britain. The analysis contextualizes their entry in terms of an understanding of the developing relationship between racial formation and its expression in local and central policy and policy-making. In the process, the author builds upon and greatly extends the current analyses of social policy and 'race' and gender. Using a skilful mix of theory, empirical research and interviews, the book explores the complexities of the racialized and gendered world of the social services department. The result is an important contribution to the literature that draws on feminist, postcolonial, psychoanalytic and social constructionist perspectives to develop an argument about processes of racial formation. 'Race', Gender, Social Welfare will be of interest to students, academics and practitioners in the fields of social welfare, social work, ethnic and women's studies and discourse analysis.

Acknowledgements viii List of Abbreviations ix Preface xi Introduction 1 PART I. GOVERNING RACIAL FORMATION 19 1. Configuring the Terrain: Governmentality, Racialized Population and Social Work 21 2. Now You See It, Now You Don’t: ‘Race’, Social Policy and the Blind Eye of Central Government 43 3. Sites of Condensation: Social Services and Racial Formation at the Local Level 77 4. ‘The Call of the Wild’: Contestatory Professional Discourses on ‘Race’ and Ethnicity 118 PART II. COMPLEX ACTS OF BECOMING: WORKING ‘RACE’ AND GENDER 135 5. ‘Evidence of Things Not Seen’: The Complexities of the ‘Everyday’ for Black Women Social Workers 138 6. Categories of Exclusion: ‘Race’ and Gender in the SSD 155 7. Situated Voice: ‘Black Women’s Experience’ and Social Work 170 Conclusion 202 Notes 207 References 211 Index 222