Protective Services: Coercive Social Control or Mutual Liberation

Authors

Alfred J. Fortin, University of Connecticut

Abstract

Excerpt from the full-text article:

The area of protective services for children has always been a difficult one for social work. Protective casework has, and is now, both praised and condemned simultaneously from different elements of the community. The stakes in the protective field are usually high and players are subject to various episodes of the "emotional plague" as Wilhelm Reich would have called it. People in protective work exercise their role as worker in a variety of ways and these 'styles' range from being police-like and oppressive to radical and promoting social change. It is characteristic of this work that people, both client and worker, are forced into a mixed bag of emotional and value conflicts.

Recommended Citation

Fortin, Alfred J. (1974) "Protective Services: Coercive Social Control or Mutual Liberation," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 7.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15453/0191-5096.1111
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol3/iss1/7