PREVENT, safeguarding and the common-sensing of social work in the United Kingdom
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11157/anzswj-vol31iss2id631Keywords:
safeguarding, counter-terrorism, social work, PREVENTAbstract
INTRODUCTION: The Counter-Terrorism and Security Act (2015) passed in the United Kingdom (UK) made it mandatory for social workers, as well as a wide range of caring professionals, to work within the PREVENT policy, originally introduced in 2002, as one strand of the UK’s overall counter-terrorism policy.
METHOD: The paper offers a theoretical account of how complex issues, like terrorism, that understandably impact on the safety and security of countries, are reduced to a series of assertions, claims and panics that centre on the notion of common sense.
IMPLICATIONS: We theorise the concept of common sense and argue that such rhetorical devices have become part of the narrative that surrounds the PREVENT agenda in the UK, which co-opts social workers (and other public servants) into an increasingly securitised environment within the state. In other words, the appeal to common sense stifles critical debate, makes it hard to raise concerns and positions debates in a binary manner. We use the example of how there has been a decisive linking of traditional safeguarding social work practice with counter-terrorism activity.
CONCLUSIONS: We posit that linkages such as this serve to advance a more closed society, resulting in a “chilling” of free speech, an increase in surveillance and the unchecked advancement of a neoliberal political agenda which promotes economic considerations over issues of social justice. This we argue, has implications for not only the UK, but for other countries where social workers are increasingly being tasked with counter-terrorism activities.
References
Banks, S. (2008). Critical commentary: Social work ethics. British Journal of Social Work, 38, 1238–1249.
BBC News. (2017). Deportation remarks common-sense. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk- 21491561/deportation-remarks-common-sense
Buzan, B. (1983). People, states, and fear: An agenda for international security studies in the post-cold war era. Colchester, UK: ECPR Press.
Coppock, V., & McGovern, M. (2014). Dangerous
minds? Deconstructing counter-terrorism discourse, radicalisation and the “psychological vulnerability” of Muslim children and young people in Britain. Children and Society, 28(3), 242–256.
Emmerson B. (2016). Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. Retrieved from https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/ UNDOC/GEN/G16/088/68/PDF/ G1608868.pdf?OpenElement
Featherstone, B., Morris, K., & White, S. (2014). A marriage made in hell: Early intervention meets child protection. British Journal of Social Work, 44(7), 1735–1749.
Ferguson, F. (2007). Increasing user choice or privatizing risk? The antinomies of personalization. British Journal of Social Work, 7(3), 387–403.
Finch, J., & McKendrick, D. (2015). The non-linear war on social work in the UK: Extremism, radicalisation, troubled families and the recasting of “safeguarding.” Retrieved from http://www.reimaginingsocialwork.nz/2015/07/ the-non-linear-war-on-social-work-in-the-uk-extremism- radicalisation-troubled-families-and-the-recasting-of- safeguarding/
Finch, J., & McKendrick, D. (2019). Securitising social work: Counter terrorism, extremism and radicalisation. In S. Webb (Ed.), Routledge handbook of critical social work (pp. 244-255). London, UK: Routledge.
Gandy, O. H., Jr. (1993). The panoptic sort: A political economy of personal information. Critical studies in communication and in the cultural industries. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Garrett, P. M. (2013). Social work and social theory: Making connections. Bristol, UK: Policy Press.
Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self-identity. Self and society in the late modern age. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Gramsci, A. (1973). Selections from the prison
notebooks (Q. Hoare & G. Nowell-Smith, Eds.
& Trans.). London, UK: Lawrence and Wishart. Retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/ AntonioGramsciSelectionsFromThePrisonNotebooks/ Antonio-Gramsci-Selections-from-the-Prison- Notebooks_djvu.txt
Guardian, The. (2012). George Osborne tells Tory Conference, We are all in this together [video]. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2012/ oct/08/george-osborne-tory-conference-video
Hall, S., & O’Shea. A. (2015). Common sense neoliberalism. In S. Hall, D. Massey, & M. Rustin (Eds.), After neoliberalism? The Kilburn Manifesto Project (pp. 52-68). London, UK: Lawrence and Wishart.
Holeman, M. (2015). David Cameron: Social workers
must use “common sense” to tackle child abuse – PM warns of child abuse “on an industrial scale.” The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ law-and-order/11447851/David-Cameron-social- workers-must-use-common-sense-to-tackle-child- abuse.html
Jeffries, S. (2016). The writings of Gove and Boris reveal a chilling double act. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/21/writing- michael-gove-boris-johnson-reveal-chilling-double-act- brexit-leave
Kundani, A. (2015). The Muslims are coming: Islamophobia, extremism and the domestic war on terror. New York, NY: Verso.
Massey, D. (2015). Vocabularies of the economy. In S. Hall, D.
Massey, & M. Rustin (Eds.), After Neoliberalism? The Kilburn Manifesto Project (pp. 24-36). London, UK: Lawrence and Wishart.
Massumi, B. (2015). The politics of affect. Oxford, UK: Polity Press.
Mayo, P. (2008). Antonio Gramsci and his relevance for the education of adults. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 40(3), 418–435.
McKendrick, D., & Finch, J. (2016). The common-sensing
of social work in the UK. Retrieved from http://www. reimaginingsocialwork.nz/2016/03/the-common-sensing- of-social-work-in-britain/
McNicol, A. (2017). Is tackling poverty no longer “core business” for social workers? Community Care Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.communitycare. co.uk/2017/03/15/tackling-poverty-longer-core-business- social-workers/
Mirror, The. (2017). Voice of The Mirror: When terror attacks our democracy it will never be allowed to win. Retrieved from http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/voice-mirror- london-terror-attack-10080522
More-Bridger, B. (2014). David Cameron calls for “common sense” as Ashya King’s parents plan to sue. Retrieved from http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/parents-of- ashya-king-to-sue-hospital-and-police-over-cruelty- claims-9706118.html
Parton, N. (2014). Social work, child protection and politics: Some critical and constructive reflections. British Journal of Social Work, 44(7), 2042–2056.
Petrie, S. (2009). Are the international and national codes of ethics for social work in the UK as useful as a chocolate teapot? Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics, 6(2). Retrieved from http://www.socialworker.com/jswve/ content/blogcategory/21/68/
Sabir, R. (2017). Blurred lines and false dichotomies: Integrating counterinsurgency into the UK’s domestic “war on terror.” Critical Social Policy, 37(2), 202–224.
Standing. G. (2011). The precariat: A new dangerous class. London, UK: Bloomsbury.
Stanley, T., & Guru, S. (2015). Childhood radicalisation risk: An emerging practice issue. Practice: Social Work in Action, 27(5), 353–366.
Stanley, T., Guru, S., & Gupta, A. (2018). Working
with PREVENT: Social work options for cases of “radicalisation risk.” Practice: Social Work in Action, 30(2), 131–146.
Thomas, P. (2010). Failed and friendless: The UK’s preventing violent extremism programme. British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 12, 442–458.
UK Government. (2012). Michael Gove speech on adoption. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/ speeches/michael-gove-speech-on-adoption
UK Government. (2017). Mayor of London statements – Westminster attack. Available from https://www. london.gov.uk/about-us/mayor-london/mayor-london- statements-westminster-attack
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
By completing the online submission process, you confirm you accept this agreement. The following is the entire agreement between you and the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) and it may be modified only in writing.
You and any co-authors
If you are completing this agreement on behalf of co-authors, you confirm that you are acting on their behalf with their knowledge.
First publication
By submitting the work you are:
- granting the ANZASW the right of first publication of this work;
- confirming that the work is original; and
- confirming that the work has not been published in any other form.
Once published, you are free to use the final, accepted version in any way, as outlined below under Copyright.
Copyright
You assign copyright in the final, accepted version of your article to the ANZASW. You and any co-authors of the article retain the right to be identified as authors of the work.
The ANZASW will publish the final, accepted manuscript under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY 4.0). This licence allows anyone – including you – to share, copy, distribute, transmit, adapt and make commercial use of the work without needing additional permission, provided appropriate attribution is made to the original author or source.
A human-readable summary of the licence is available from http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, which includes a link to the full licence text.
Under this licence you can use the final, published version of the article freely – such as depositing a copy in your institutional research repository, uploading a copy to your profile on an academic networking site or including it in a different publication, such as a collection of articles on a topic or in conference proceedings – provided that original publication in Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work is acknowledged.
This agreement has no effect on any pre-publication versions or elements, which remain entirely yours, and to which we claim no right.
Reviewers hold copyright in their own comments and should not be further copied in any way without their permission.
The copyright of others
If your article includes the copyright material of others (e.g. graphs, diagrams etc.), you confirm that your use either:
- falls within the limits of fair dealing for the purposes of criticism and review or fair use; OR
- that you have gained permission from the rights holder for publication in an open access journal.
