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The concept of psychological trauma has been taken up widely in popular culture and in diverse academic fields including social work. In this work of poststructuralist discourse analysis, we used methods of close reading to examine a random sample of thirty social work articles on trauma (published 2010–2020). Our aim was not to refute the salience of the concept nor to establish its true meaning and correct usage, but to critically examine its discursive functions; what does 'trauma' do in social work? In our analysis, the progressive aims of the discourses of trauma—to counter pathologisation and confer legitimacy to harms that have been marginalised—are unrealised. 'Trauma' is deployed in multiple, often contradictory ways and the slippages between intent and function work to construct the trauma-laden as non-normative, damaged subjects, and legitimate objects, thus, of social work scrutiny and intervention. Social work's discourses of trauma undermine their own efforts to centre a structural analysis. If 'to perceive the world as a safe place' is a signifier of normative, non-traumatised functioning, then what does 'trauma' do when applied to the racialised, gendered, colonised and marginalised, for whom the world is not a place of safety but of material and psychical violence? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young people from ethnic minority groups are at the centre of public concern in modern societies. This article presents the findings of a qualitative study that critically examines the discourses of thirty-three social workers who work with young people of Ethiopian ethnic origin in Israel. The findings reveal three key discourses: the social inclusion discourse, the meritocracy discourse and the social conflict discourse. Alongside the dominance of conservative discourses and neoliberal perceptions of youth and sociocultural group relationships, the findings reveal the existence of a competing critical discourse. The discussion offers a critical and contextual analysis of the field of social work with youth as the basis for a renewed discussion of basic assumptions, values, professional role perceptions and work directions. It notes the critical models that recognise and oppose oppression as an alternative to policymaking, training and practice processes regarding young people from social minority groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed social work in the limelight alongside the various medical professions and has created a rare opportunity for transforming the oppressed image of the profession. Based on a broad perspective—historical, social and political—we show how the development of a collective needs-conscious identity can lead to active protests on the part of social workers against their condition. This process is brought into sharp focus by critical analysis of media reports on the protests held by social workers in Israel in July 2020. An analysis of the struggle points to a number of factors that are responsible for its success: creating a collective consciousness with respect to the profession and the use of anger (as against fear); increasing the visibility of the profession in the public eye and the media; developing a dialogue that defined the party responsible for oppressing the status of the social workers; highlighting the ramifications of this oppression not only on the social workers but also on society as a whole; and using rhetoric that enabled the professional struggle to be ended and collaboration to be continued. The significance of these findings and their theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on the renewed interest in social work historiography, this article examines how disability was perceived and constructed by the social work profession in the first decades of the State of Israel. A discourse analysis of articles published in the country's main social work journal (Welfare, 1957–77) underscores the importance of individualised discourses focused on the disabled person, her body, tragedy and, most importantly, her personality. This emphasis leads to an examination of the personality characteristics of disabled persons as seen or attributed by practitioners. The analysis then examines the social discourses arising from these articles and that which is sorely missing in them—the voice of the disabled. Finally, the study discusses some of the factors behind these professional discourses and conceptualises them within the theoretical framework of othering. Specifically, it concludes that these discourses turned welfare into a cultural location of disability, where disabled people were constructed and (re)shaped as the Other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1948 and 1970, Israeli society witnessed a proliferation of discourses on juvenile delinquency, adopting a critical, historically informed approach. This paper shows that debates on juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice, as well as the inclusionary or exclusionary policies they promoted, were grounded within the project of nation building and interwoven in broader attempts to reshape the social and moral order of the new society. Reflecting an emerging conception of a "normal insider" citizen, a norm against which all individuals were measured, the discourse on juvenile delinquency created a hierarchy of "others." Middle-class juvenile delinquents were seen, in spite of their criminal acts, as deserving members of the new community. Delinquency in Orientals was attributed to their lack of readiness to participate in the socio-cultural milieu, something to be treated by resocialization. Arab delinquents were considered aliens and received limited services and treatment. Discourse analysis techniques indicate that this structuring of delinquent groups by class, ethnicity and nationality was part of a broader definition of the ideal moral traits of the Israeli citizen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]