Making clients or regenerating citizens : a feminist analysis of community work
Date
1995
Authors
Burgess, Judith Ann
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Abstract
This thesis explores the every day lives of four women, who have been perceived and labelled as 'at-risk' clients. These four women with young children, initially came to the James Bay Family Resource Centre with experiences of powerlessness and devaluation Over time, through the mediating presence of the Family Resource Centre and the support of community workers, the women gained increased independence and self worth, and enhanced capacity to care for their children
From taped interviews, I explicated the, often times, invisible work of women as they 'care for' and 'care about' their children. The experiences of these women, corroborated by their workers, are constructed into stories of 'being a client' Committed to the methodology of institutional ethnography, I began the inquiry with the women's everyday encounters and related these experiences to the social relations of ruling, as implicit in their narratives I explored the disjunctures with the larger social relations, and made explicit that which controls their local experience The stories the women told of their interactions with family, with community, and with professionals were not uncommon to many of the women, who come to the Family Centre disenfranchised by an uncaring society
From a feminist analysis the women's stories and relevant literature were reviewed I determined that the every day lives of these women have been socially constructed, so that the women themselves have been organized into a role of clientage. I contend that clientage is the process of being contained by organizational structures and professionalism, that adhere to the underpinnings of patriarchy and capitalism, and the concomitant ideology of individualism
The research further reveals the work of the women and their community workers at the Family Resource Centre, as the women gained personal power and endeavoured to regenerate as valued neighbourhood citizens Analysis and literature uncovered the features of caring community work, which I assert, contribute to the deconstruction of making clients and the regeneration of citizens I conclude that caring community work, with the feature of 'caring about' individuals, is guided by principles that focus on local action and promote the competence of citizens and neighbourhoods.