Abstract
The paper explores social work and work by using a theoretical optic neglected within the profession's academic literature - the Italian Marxist autonomist tradition. Key conceptual categories associated with the autonomists are discussed including the social factory, precariousness, the refusal of work and immaterial labour. It is maintained that a critical engagement with these interrelated concepts may help us think more deeply and politically about three dimensions: the changing content of the work; practitioners' focus, to differing degrees dependent on the national setting, on the work 'readiness' of clients; the ideologically pervasive work ethic within, what is termed, a 'work society'.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1682-1699 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | British Journal of Social Work |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Oct 2014 |
Keywords
- Social factory
- immaterial labour
- precarity
- refusal of work