Care and Control Dynamics in Caring Relationships

Abstract

Throughout social work’s history, practitioners and policy-makers have failed to agree the balance to be struck between its controlling dimension and its caring one. In recent years, (social) control has become a dirty word in the minds of practitioners. The literature identifies the negative effects of social control on social workers and ‘clients’ (Corrigan and Leonard, 1978 Parry et al., 1979). This skews ‘client’ needs by squeezing them to fit the resources available. Rationing via eligibility criteria becomes one way of achieving this. For some practitioners, this constitutes an immoral form of practice proscribed by their professional ethics.