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Who Else Is in the Room? The Good Mother Myth in the Social Worker‒Mother Client Encounter

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2015

Hagit Sinai-Glazer
Hagit Sinai-Glazer*
Affiliation:
School of Social Work, McGill University E-mail: hagit.sinaiglazer@mail.mcgill.ca
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Abstract

A fundamental dyad in public social services is woman to woman. In Israeli public social services, it is often mother to mother. This multi-faceted encounter is complex and in this theoretical article I wish to deconstruct and situate the social worker–mother encounter in a broader context, a social–cultural–national one. Taking a feminist perspective, I will explore how the personal and private social worker–mother encounter is a political and public one. Analysing western ideologies of the ‘Good Mother’ together with those of the Israeli-Jewish mother, this article aims to develop a theoretical understanding of macro mechanisms that shape the social worker–mother encounter. Being conscious about what influences that encounter might benefit social work clients, practitioners, researchers, and policymakers.

Keywords

Social workmotherhoodsocial worker–mother client encounter‘Good Mother’ mythecological system analysis
Type
Articles
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , July 2016 , pp. 351 - 367
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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