Scientific Management, Bureau-Professionalism, New Managerialism: The Labour Process of State Social Work

Abstract

An outline is provided of radical social work writers' use of Braverman's labour process thesis on scientific management to account for developments in state social work in the late 197Os/early 1980s. The advocacy of a scientific management model in radical social work texts is tested against the existence of a bureau-professional social work labour process in the 1970s/early 1980s. The nature of this bureau-professional labour process is explored and then used as a baseline from which to chart developments in state social work in the late 1980s/1990s towards a new managerialist labour process.