Put Down Your Knitting: Unpicking Social Welfare Professionalisation in 1970s Australia

This article compares evidence given to the 1970s Commonwealth Commission of Enquiry into Poverty by a social worker from Armidale with that of a group of foster carers in Adelaide. It does so to illuminate the power struggle underway between volunteers, professionals and experts at a key moment in...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of Australian studies Vol. 41; no. 2; pp. 222 - 236
Main Author Davis, Fiona
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 03.04.2017
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
20th century
Experts
Foster care
Foster carers
Oral history
Poverty
Power
Professionalization
Public inquiries
Social welfare
Social work
Social workers
Volunteers
Australia
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:This article compares evidence given to the 1970s Commonwealth Commission of Enquiry into Poverty by a social worker from Armidale with that of a group of foster carers in Adelaide. It does so to illuminate the power struggle underway between volunteers, professionals and experts at a key moment in Australia's social welfare history. The testimonies provide two very different perspectives on the challenges of social welfare professionalisation. Analysing them allows a deeper exploration of those challenges, which, to date, have been under-explored, while bringing a greater understanding of the factors that shaped the creation of enquiry submissions.
ISSN:1444-3058
1835-6419
DOI:10.1080/14443058.2017.1308420