Search results
7 The psychology-inspired context: coach–coachee Introduction The doctor [is] not just a physician but adviser, the nurse [is] not just [a] carer but trainer, patients [are] more than consumers – [they are] partners. (Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown cited in Needham 2011: 141) Today’s welfare work is not only influenced by principles of the b ureaucracy (Chapter 5) or the market (Chapter 6), as the quote from former Prime Minister Gordon Brown illustrates; both welfare workers and citizens are expected to take on the roles of advisers, trainers and
Since the 1990s, European welfare states have undergone substantial changes regarding their objectives, areas of intervention and instruments of use. There has been an increasing move towards the prioritisation of the involvement of citizens and the participation of civil society. This book focuses on the altered (powerful) conditions for encounters between citizens and welfare workers. It uses the concept of soft power, which, inter alia, allows for the investigations of the ways in which individuals manipulate each other in an effort to achieve their desired goals. The first part of the book discusses extracts from state-of-the-art research on professions and expertise, and the perception of power that guides the analyses. It also discusses the overall theoretical positioning when analysing encounters between welfare workers and citizens as co-productive and interactionist. The second part presents analyses to show how a bureaucratic context affects the encounter between administrators and clients, and how a market context affects the encounter between service providers and consumers/customers. The analysis of how a psychology-inspired context affects the encounter between coaches and coaches is also provided. All three contexts are to be perceived as Weberian ideal types, in other words, theoretical constructs based on observations of the real world. The concluding part of the book emphasises on the role of the principles of the bureaucracy, the norms from psychology, and the values of the market in the welfare encounter. Key points of the book are summarised in the conclusion.
expanded on by investigating the role of agency in this work and by introducing Maynard-Moody and Musheno’s (2000, 2003, 2012) concepts of state agents and citizen agents in bureaucratic settings, as well as Dubois’ (2010) analysis of (welfare) agents as actors who hold two bodies. 58 The bureaucratic, market and psychology-inspired contexts A very short definition of bureaucracy On a general level, bureaucracy can be described as an organisational form characterised by a division of labour based on functional specialisations that produces a system of procedures for
(2007: 63–64) shows, for instance, that within the area of health there is a strong focus on the individual, whereas within policing there is a strong focus on community. Thus, the ideal typical citizen varies from the individual choice-making patient, user or consumer within health and social care to the collective being the agent within 74 The bureaucratic, market and psychology-inspired contexts policing. Just as the particular welfare area is of great importance (e.g., health or policing), it is also important to consider whether the participants are able to
the encounter between – in this case – administrators and clients (Chapter 5); secondly, analyses that show how a market context affects the encounter between – in this case – service providers and consumers/customers (Chapter 6); and thirdly, analyses that show how a psychology-inspired context affects the encounter between – in this case – coaches and coachees (Chapter 7). All three contexts are to be perceived as Weberian ideal types, in other words, theoretical constructs based on observations of the real world, which nevertheless cannot be regarded as actually