Suchergebnisse

Child psychological maltreatment (CPM) was incorporated into the Quebec Youth Protection Act (YPA) in 2006. At that time, various civil-society actors were invited to present to Parliament their views on these legislative changes. The objective of this article is to document the social representations mobilized by the stakeholders in the parliamentary committee in relation to the inclusion of CPM in the Quebec YPA. After explaining our research objectives, questions, and methodology, we will discuss our results, in particular about the distinctive nature of children as a representational object. This specificity will be analyzed in order to better understand the type of communication it generates and the corresponding hegemonic representation of parents. Specifically, implications related to the representational dynamics identified are discussed in relation to our collective capacity (or incapacity) to debate sensitive issues such as child abuse.

In this paper, we analyze the evolution of the expert discourse in the media during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Canada. From our analysis of 527 media products published by CBC/Radio Canada between January 1 and August 31, 2020, it was possible to document the type of expertise mobilized, the types of experts engaged by the media, the modalities of appropriation of this discourse by non-experts and the use of expert discourse by political actors. We organize our analysis around governmental measures that have generated more controversy and debate in the media (e.g., closing international borders) and that will be used to analyze the processes of representational naturalization (Negura and Plante, submitted). We begin our chapter with an overview of the use of expertise in the Canadian public- health decision-making chain in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic by highlighting the tensions, contradictions, and paradoxes in political communication that this process revealed. We demonstrate the relevance of studying these dynamics reflected in the media from the perspective of social representations. A brief explanation of the research objectives, the data used and some methodological elements will follow. We then discuss the results of our analysis of the different stages of the evolution of the pandemic in Canada according to the expert discourse in the media. Finally, our analysis focuses on the role of expert discourse in determining what aspects of Covid-19 the public and the political authorities in Canada have defined as a social problem.

This study examined the lived experience of Canadian clinical social workers in light of the organizational context in which they work. The literature indicates an alarming rise of occupational psychological distress in social workers, which aligns with the rise of the neoliberal ideology within the Canadian healthcare sector. While we know that organizational constraints and structural reforms affect social worker's workplace well-being, it remains unclear how these changes are represented by front-line practitioners and how they affect the provision of social services in healthcare settings. To deepen our understanding of this issue, we conducted a thematic analysis of thirty semi-directed interviews with social workers currently practicing in three Canadian cities (Ottawa, Moncton and Winnipeg). Discussions of daily work life, responsibilities, autonomy and subjective understandings of the social worker's role revealed which organizational constraints were the most significant in everyday practice and how they relate to their professional identity and mandate. Provincial healthcare reforms were generally found to have negative effects on clinical social workers, whose struggles for recognition were impaired by the fundamentally neoliberal ideologies behind the large-scale restructuring of service provision, themselves at odds with the humanistic principles of social work. Our findings further suggest that structural changes under the New Public Management frame could be detrimental to both the quality of services provided by clinical social workers and their well-being. Overall, this investigation highlights the importance of organizational improvements in the workplace through systemic changes that would concurrently target managerial expectations, resources allocation, autonomy, work-life balance and respect for professional values.

Child psychological maltreatment (CPM) was incorporated into the Quebec Youth Protection Act (YPA) in 2006. At that time, various civil-society actors were invited to present to Parliament their views on these legislative changes. The objective of this article is to document the social representations mobilized by the stakeholders in the parliamentary committee in relation to the inclusion of CPM in the Quebec YPA. After explaining our research objectives, questions, and methodology, we will discuss our results, in particular about the distinctive nature of children as a representational object. This specificity will be analyzed in order to better understand the type of communication it generates and the corresponding hegemonic representation of parents. Specifically, implications related to the representational dynamics identified are discussed in relation to our collective capacity (or incapacity) to debate sensitive issues such as child abuse.

Our study sought to refine our understanding of professional distress by examining the experience of healthcare social workers in the following three Canadian provinces: Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick. Thirty semi-directed interviews were conducted to explore the social workers' social representation of professional distress and its ties to professional identity and growing organizational constraints. Attitudes, work–life imbalances, and negative workplace experiences were found to increase the subjective experience of distress. Current psychosocial and organizational contexts of front-line practitioners are contributors to their professional distress, a matter further exacerbated by the misrepresentation of social work by colleagues and service beneficiaries.

AbstractThis theoretical paper explores the role of social representations in the construction of social reality. Even though this question has been the subject of many debates, the actual processes and mechanisms through which social representations contribute to the construction of social reality have rarely been explored. Citing key works on the topic, the paper explores the role of the genesis of social representations in this process. Each stage of the objectification of social representations (selective construction, structuring schematization, and naturalization) is examined in detail. A more in‐depth analysis of the naturalization process is provided by dividing it into four phases: (1) recognition; (2) elimination of contradictions; (3) instrumental use; and (4) validation through experience. These phases are illustrated using the example of the construction of the social object of drugs in our contemporary society. The present examination of the naturalization process in relation to drugs reveals the mechanisms through which the reality of drugs as a social problem has been constructed and reproduced in our society.

Dans cette recherche exploratoire sur les représentations sociales des gestionnaires d'entreprises, deux logiques naturelles ont été repérées à l'origine des pratiques liées à l'embauche de personnes aux prises avec des problèmes de surconsommation de substances psychoactives. D'un côté, le discours dominant est structuré autour de l'importance de la productivité pour l'entreprise et autour de la toxicomanie, considérée comme un problème de l'individu. De l'autre côté, un discours périphérique apparaît comme fondé sur l'idée que l'entreprise a une certaine fonction sociale à assumer et que la source de la toxicomanie est aussi externe à l'individu, c'est-à-dire qu'elle provient de son milieu familial, social ou de travail. Les représentations sociales de l'entreprise et de la toxicomanie, qui organisent ce discours des gestionnaires, indiquent une dynamique de changement.

Les parents entendants d'un enfant vivant avec une surdité (PEES) sont aux prises, dès le début, avec une réalité peu familière qui occupe rapidement une place considérable dans leur vie. Cela est dû, entre autres, à l'arrivée quasi immédiate d'une gamme de services professionnels, ce qui sollicite un engagement de la part des PEES. Dans cet article, nous analysons l'engagement des PEES à partir de la théorie des représentations sociales. Vingt-neuf parents entendants ayant un enfant vivant avec une surdité dans la province de Québec (Canada) ont participé à notre enquête mixte combinant la technique d'évocation et des entrevues semi-dirigées. Nos résultats ont permis de montrer comment les représentations sociales de la surdité, de la parentalité et des services professionnels façonnent l'intensité et l'orientation du processus d'engagement des PEES auprès de leur enfant.

AbstractOur article concerns the social representation of social work held by professional social workers in a Canadian healthcare setting. While there have been extensive theoretical debates on the professional identity of social workers, little is known about the representation of social work held by practitioners themselves. To better understand the viewpoints of practitioners, we performed an integrated content analysis of 30 semi-directed interviews focussing on the question of professional identity with clinical social workers practicing in three Canadian cities. The analysis identified four elements organising the social representation of social work: 'counselling for support', 'empowerment and respect', 'social justice' and 'compassionate vocation'. Each element has implications for the daily practice of the profession, the cultivation of resilience and the core values of social work. This article further discusses the respondents' perception of outside views of the profession and explores the tensions between the values of social work and its implementation in an institutional setting. This research seeks to open new lines of inquiry about social work based on the experiences and points of view of front-line practitioners. In proposing our representational analysis of the professional identity of social workers, we hope to further the understanding of social work in general.