Contenu du sommaire : La rationalisation des métiers du social

This article aims to contribute to reflection on the exercise of authority involved in the setting-up of early prevention programmes in Quebec. These are being put in place in the socio-political context of the recent managerial reform of health and social service systems, a reform inspired by the principles of the “new public management” and by the drive for “best practices”. We analyse some of the social and symbolic dimensions of the power structures resulting from the overlap of trends in management with the reasoning of scientific positivism. We arrive at the hypothesis that early prevention coupled with the new public management leads to the build-up of a hierarchy of powers. The authority of positivist science imposes an additional control on the practice of social workers and on the young families said to be at risk.

This article aims to contribute to reflection on the exercise of authority involved in the setting-up of early prevention programmes in Quebec. These are being put in place in the socio-political context of the recent managerial reform of health and social service systems, a reform inspired by the principles of the “new public management” and by the drive for “best practices”. We analyse some of the social and symbolic dimensions of the power structures resulting from the overlap of trends in management with the reasoning of scientific positivism. We arrive at the hypothesis that early prevention coupled with the new public management leads to the build-up of a hierarchy of powers. The authority of positivist science imposes an additional control on the practice of social workers and on the young families said to be at risk.

This article seeks to put into perspective the present tension and unrest pro-voked by the dominance of purely instrumental reasoning in social work and social work training, particularly in their recourse to new systems of reference, in the light of the thought of Charles Taylor. Taylor's analysis of modern culture and the tensions within it allows us to identify both the underlying sources and the dangers of this rationalisation, and also to bring to light a conflict between differing horizons of meaning within contemporary practices and institutions. These philo-sophical reflections, which are supported by the analysis of two contrasting systems of reference in France (Barreyre, 2006) will allow us to explore the problem-atic of this state of affairs and the manner in which systems of reference in social work can be brought to bear. They can be brought into focus through reflection and discussion on the basis of agreed standards of reference and a wider field of intelligibility. There remains the risk that standards of reference may be univocal-ly imposed on social workers by outside agencies.

The transformation in ways of life and their social consequences are a basic issue. Initial and ongoing training appear here as the essential elements for the understanding of change. Ongoing education is indispensable for individual development, technological progress, the prevention of social problems, and for action in favour of social cohesion. Training fosters innovation in public policy, including socio-educational and sanitation measures. In this respect ongoing education bears on three particular areas, the interests of social systems, of institutions, and of private individuals. In all these areas there are three objectives : the best and most efficient use of resources, the highest quality of social work interventions, and the maximum job satisfaction. However, the attainment of these objectives depends on the means available and on the existence of a real political will.

New public management (abbreviated in French as NGP) is a reforming move-ment which aims to rationalise the functioning of public administration. However, little attention has been paid to the unexpected consequences, though a number of experts have shown that the facts really don't correspond to the results hoped for by the promoters of the reforms. It is permissible to conclude that NGP has contributed to the perpetuation of bureaucracy, even though the aim was to reduce it and make public organisations more flexible. Reviewing a number of the unexpected consequences of the reforms, this article shows that bureaucracy is a form of organisation that knows howto defend itself, and also that the overlapping of the different rulebooks which public agencies are faced with serves to confuse their points of reference and render their organisational briefs unintelligible.

Social work at local community level which consists in staying as close as possible to problems as they arise on the ground, and the drive to rationalise social work interventions, have produced two distinct sets of instructions which give two different contours to the activity of counsellors in social integration working with young people in France. These two dimensions can be shown to be especially at odds when professionals are called to give an account of their work in the com-munity. An analysis of the issues as they are presented in official reports by social workers reveals the different ways in which they come to terms with the compet-ing norms of evaluation. The case study presented here, collected in the course of an ethnographic inquiry carried out within different local assignments with young people, makes it possible to reveal the side-effects of different modes of evaluation, in particular by the tools used in computerised assessments of the paths to social integration.

Certain observations lead us to conclude that public policy aiming to set up a “culture of good care” in the field of the care of vulnerable people might not be hav-ing an effect on the actual practices of the establishments most concerned. All the same, does the persistence of undesirable practices ought to be set down to an uncaring attitude on the part of care workers, which proper training might correct ? We discuss this hypothesis, starting from the area of the facilities provided for the dependent elderly and returning to the particular features of the carers' jobs in the light of work that has been carried out in the wake of the concern for an ethic of care. The fight against mistreatment depends more on the capacity to engage in a process of collective apprenticeship than upon the dispensing of professional training in solicitude.

Social work training in the French speaking part of Switzerland has lately been transformed ; this change brings a risk in the field of professional practices : tasks might artificially be split. We are convinced that an academic qualification (bachelor degree) is needed to recognize « knowledge gained from life experience » as a specialised scientific knowledge. We thus focus on the combination of the aca-demic aspect of a tertiary training with the professional know-how. To do so, we base our analysis on professionals' non rational activity to underline how complex and specifics are the skills at stake. Moreover, this article is sustained by De Cer-tau's “theory/practice” analysis and the concept of art de faire.

What does it mean to rule by means of competences ? By linking investigations on the ground and theoretical approaches, this contribution shows not only the wide-reaching aims of certain policies but also their range and their effects. Three avenues are explored here : the vocabulary of competence considered as a pow-erful vector of sharing of responsibilities between individuals and the granting or withholding of rights ; the elucidation of the numerous links that are formed between competences, employability and evaluation, that work out in practice as tools, principles and instruments aimed to reinforce the pretension to objectivity of the claim to govern through competences ; the effects of segmentation and pri-oritisation of tasks that follow from certain uses of the idea of competence. In conclusion, we explore several lines of thought and point up the danger of abuses and also our hope for democracy.

The author, “a little scared by what is happening in the health and welfare sec-tor”, deplores the fact that social work is now judged on outcomes, leaving no place for “doubt and uncertainty in the (social work) relationship”. That the work-er should be obliged to complete the administrative formalities, we can agree, but for the social work profession the primary responsibility is to stay alongside the client(s).