The Resistance Practice of Grassroots Social Workers from 2007 to 2017 : A Narrative Analysis with Life Course Perspective

• Main Authors: Pei-Chi Huang, 黃珮綺
• Other Authors: Yi-Yi Chen
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/abn8ky

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 社會工作學研究所 === 106 === The study is based on narrative of eight grassroots social workers about intention, patterns, and consciousness of identity of their resistance practice. Taiwan’s political dissolution in 1987 followed by a series of social movements facilitated massive changes in the social welfare system. Afterwards the social service delivery systems went privatization in 1990s and the professionalization of social work embarked. In the past 20 years, the completion of the "Profession Construction of Social Work" has left a great deal of controversy and worked as the structural strength of grassroots social workers. This study aims to analysis agency of the resistance practice and examines its connection with history from a life course perspective. The attempt is to communicate the full picture of social work shaped and shared by the actors involved. The eight social workers interviewed all started their route to becoming a helper around 1997 and participated in resistance practice sooner or later. This essay draws the life course of these social workers, in which they committed to social work, took undergraduate or/and graduate education in social work, and became employed as social workers or social movement activists. By investigating how these actors changed their route from the original direction to undertaking resistance activities, I saw that the reason why a person rises from resistance is cause of the interweave of structural turning points and transition in personal life course. Three major findings can be drown from the 2007-2017 grassroots social workers’ resistance practice. First, in Profession Construction of Social Work the licensing institution creates a game for competition among segmented social worker labor markets. In particular, the examination system established in 2006 strengthened the absorption—diversion mechanism of “professional education—professional license—professional labor market”. Second, the pattern of resistance practice includes forming dissent groups and homeopathic confrontation. It reflects hegemony effect of the Social Work Profession Construction since the timing of resistance tend to reveal these actors’ penetration and limitation. Third, the awareness of identity generated in the course of resistance practice leads to a contradiction complex of being a professional as well as a labor. This study regards such identity awareness in a state of consent that has been derived from the past twenty years history, and inherent in these actors’ identity and practice.