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Social administration revisited: Traditions of observational fieldwork and their value
Author(s) -
Exley Sonia
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
social policy and administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1467-9515
pISSN - 0144-5596
DOI - 10.1111/spol.12411
Subject(s) - popularity , bureaucracy , value (mathematics) , observational study , administration (probate law) , sociology , welfare , social welfare , social work , subject (documents) , social policy , work (physics) , public administration , social science , political science , law , politics , medicine , library science , mechanical engineering , engineering , pathology , machine learning , computer science
This article revisits traditions of observational fieldwork inside welfare institutions which formed a core part of past social administration teaching and research in the United Kingdom. Drawing on archive materials, a historical exploration of journal contents and some supplementary interview data, it is argued that such approaches—though carried out in a less theoretically pluralist, more vocationally‐oriented time for the subject of social policy and administration—were at the same time valuable in facilitating critical perspectives on how welfare bureaucracies work. Their popularity is potentially rising once again in social policy teaching. Where cultivated alongside an appreciation of theory and where carefully integrated into university social policy departments' wider pedagogical and curricular strategies, they may be of benefit today to students and more senior scholars alike.