Abstract
This chapter investigates the institutional and affective practices of domestic violence (DV) interventions in Finnish social work. It examines the expression of social workers’ emotions related to intervening in DV and how these expressions result in the positioning of clients. Encountering and intervening in DV is often challenging; ideological presumptions, conceptions, gender-neutral discussions and misrecognition of violence affect institutional arrangements and practices, and the ways in which professionals feel about and respond to violence. We utilise positioning theory to analyse social workers’ focus group interview data (n = 20). We consider (1) how emotions expressed by social workers assign positions and moral assumptions to social workers’ and victims’ rights and duties and (2) how the display of emotions is connected to the social workers’ positioning of the victims. Our findings suggest that gender neutrality, as an ideological and institutional practice, can be used to rationalise and justify professional inactivity in addressing DV. Hence, changing institutional and affective practices that enable the malignant positioning of DV victims requires changing gender-neutral rhetoric in the conceptualisation of DV, as well as ideological practices related to ignorance and the rejection of violence.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Banks, D., Dutch, N., & Wang, K. (2008). Collaborative efforts to improve system response to families who are experiencing child maltreatment and domestic violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 23(7), 876–902 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260508314690.
Barlow, C., & Hall, B. L. (2007). What about feelings? A study of emotion and tension in social work field education. Social Work Education, 26(4), 399–413 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1080/02615470601081712.
Berger, P., & Luckmann, T. (1991). The social construction of reality. A treatise of the sociology of knowledge. London: Penguin Books.
Clarke, K. (2011). The paradoxical approach to intimate partner violence in Finland. International Perspectives in Victimology, 6(1), 9–19.
Corradi, C., & Stöckl, H. (2016). The lessons of history: The role of the nation-states and the EU in fighting violence against women in 10 European countries. Current Sociology Monograph, 64(4), 671–688 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392116640457.
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. (2015). EU-wide survey: Violence against women. Main results report. Publications Office of the European Union. https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2014/violence-against-women-eu-wide-survey-main-results-report. Accessed 26 January 2020.
Ferguson, H. (2018). How social workers reflect in action and when and why they don’t: The possibilities and limits to reflective practice in social work. Social Work Education, 27(4), 415–427 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2017.1413083.
Glumbíková, K., Mikulec, M., & Caletková, L. (2019). The influence of an organization on strategies to handle emotions of social workers working with vulnerable children in the Czech Republic. Clinical Social Work and Health Intervention, 4(10), 7–14 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1080/02650533.2020.1744115.
Harré, R. (Ed.). (1986). The social construction of emotions. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
Harré, R. (2009). Emotions as cognitive-affective-somatic hybrids. Emotion Review, 1(4), 294–301 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073909338304.
Harré, R. (2015). Positioning theory. In J. Martin, J. Sugarman, & K. L. Slaney (Eds.), The Wiley handbook of theoretical and philosophical psychology: Methods, approaches, and new directions for social sciences (pp. 263–276). Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.
Harré, R., & Moghaddam, F. (2003). Introduction: The self and others in traditional psychology and in positioning theory. In R. Harré & F. Moghaddam (Eds.), The self and others: Positioning individuals and groups in personal, political, and cultural contexts (pp. 1–11). Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers/Greenwood Publishing Group.
Harré, R., & Van Langenhove, L. (1999). The dynamics of social episodes. In R. Harré & L. Van Langenhove (Eds.), Positioning theory: Moral contexts of intentional action (pp. 1–14). Oxford: Blackwell.
Hester, M. (2011). The three-planet model: Towards an understanding of contradictions in approaches to women and children’s safety in contexts of domestic violence. The British Journal of Social Work, 41(5), 837–853 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcr095.
Hirvonen, P. (2019). Positioning, conflict, and dialogue in management teams. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, 14(4), 444–464 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1108/QROM-05-2018-1637.
Husso, M., Hirvonen, H., & Notko, M. (2017a). From rejection to understanding: Towards a synthetic approach to intepersonal violence. In M. Husso, T. Virkki, M. Notko, H. Hirvonen, & J. Eilola (Eds.), Interpersonal violence: Differences and connections (pp. 1–13). London and New York: Routledge.
Husso, M., Notko, M., Virkki, T., Holma, J., Laitila, A., & Siltala, H. (2020). Domestic violence interventions in social and health care settings: Challenges of temporary projects and short-term solutions. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 1–22 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260519898438.
Husso, M., Virkki, T., Notko, M., Hirvonen, H., & Eilola, J. (2017b). A spatial-temporal, intersectional and institutional approach to interpersonal violence. In M. Husso, T. Virkki, M. Notko, H. Hirvonen, & J. Eilola (Eds.), Interpersonal violence: Differences and connections (pp. 227–233). London and New York: Routledge.
Husso, M., Virkki, T., Notko, M., Holma, J., Laitila, A., & Mäntysaari, M. (2012). Making sense of domestic violence intervention in professional health care. Health and Social Care in the Community, 20(4), 347–355 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2524.2011.01034.x.
Jarnkvist, K., & Brännström, L. (2016). Stories of victimisation: Self-positioning and construction of gender in narratives of abused woman. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 34(21–22), 4687–4712 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260516676474.
Keeling, J., & Fisher, C. (2015). Health professionals’ responses to women’s disclosure of domestic violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 30(13), 2363–2378 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260514552449.
Keinemas, S. (2015). Be sensible: Emotions in social work ethics and education. British Journal of Social Work, 45, 2176–2191 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcu057.
Lahelma, E. (2012). Female paths to adulthood in a country of ‘genderless gender’. Gender and Education, 24(1), 1–13 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2010.549111.
Langenderfer-Magruder, L., Alven, L., Wilke, D. J., & Spinelli, C. (2019). Getting everyone on the same page: Child welfare workers’ collaboration challenges on cases involving intimate partner violence. Journal of Family Violence, 34, 21–31 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-018-0002-4.
Lehti, M. (2018). Henkirikoskatsaus 2018 (Homicide Report 2018). Helsinki: Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy, University of Helsinki.
Leinonen, N. (2019). Ammattilaisten lähisuhdeväkivallan kohtaamiseen liittyvien tunteiden yhteys väkivallan kokijalle, tekijälle ja ammattilaisille rakennettuun toimijuuteen (Unpublished master’s thesis). University of Jyväskylä.
Lynch, A., Newlands, F., & Forrester, D. (2019). What does empathy sound like in social work communication? A mixed‐methods study of empathy in child protection social work practice. Child & Family Social Work, 24, 139–147 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12591.
Morgan, K. (2006). Cheating wives and vice girls: The construction of a culture of resignation. Women’s Studies International Forum, 29, 489–498 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2006.07.006.
Narvaez, D., & Lapsley, D. K. (2005). The psychological foundations of everyday morality and moral expertise. In D. K. Lapsley & F. C. Power (Eds.), Character psychology and character education (pp. 140–165). Notre Dam: University of Notre Dame Press.
Nikupeteri, A. (2017). Professionals’ critical positionings of women as help-seekers: Finnish women’s narratives of help-seeking during post-separation stalking. Qualitative Social Work, 16(6), 793–809 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1177/1473325016644315.
Parrot, W. G. (2003). Positioning and the emotions. In R. Harré & F. Moghaddam (Eds.), The self and others: Positioning individuals and groups in personal, political, and cultural contexts (pp. 29–45). Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers/Greenwood Publishing Group.
Parrott, W. G. (2019). The social construction of emotions. In B. A. Christensen (Ed.), The second cognitive revolution. A tribute to Rom Harré (pp. 131–139). New York: Springer.
Pedwell, C., & Whitehead, A. (2012). Affecting feminism: Questions of feeling in feminist theory. Feminist Theory, 13(2), 115–129 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1177/1464700112442635.
Piippo, S., Hirvonen, P., & Carter Anand, J. (2020). Professional self-positioning of Indian socialworkers in response to domestic violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260520922920.
Pratchett, L. (2000). The inherently unethical nature of public service ethics. In R. A. Chapman (Ed.), Ethics in public service for the new millennium. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Ruch, G., Turney, D., & Ward, A. (2018). Relationship-based social work. London: Jessica Kingsley.
Rustin, M. (2005). Conceptual analysis of critical moments in Victoria Climbie’s life. Child and Family Social Work, 10(1), 11–19 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2206.2005.00351.x.
Sabat, S. R. (2003). Malignant positioning and the predicament of people with Alzheimer’s disease. In R. Harré & F. Moghaddam (Eds.), The self and others: Positioning individuals and groups in personal, political, and cultural contexts (pp. 85–98). Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers/Greenwood Publishing Group.
Saini, M., Black, T., Godbout, E., & Deljavan, S. (2019). Feeling the pressure to take sides: A survey of child protection workers’ experiences about responding to allegations of child maltreatment within the context of child custody disputes. Children and Youth Services Review, 96, 127–133 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.11.044.
Smith, L., Wetherell, M., & Campbell, G. (2018). Emotion, affective practices, and the past in the present. London: Routledge.
Solomon, R. (2010). Working with endings in relationship-based practice. In G. Ruch, D. Turney, & A. Ward (Eds.), Relationship-based social work: Getting to the heart of practice (pp. 165–184). London: Jessica Kingsley.
Spangaro, J., Poulos, R. G., & Zwi, A. B. (2011). Pandora doesn’t live here anymore: Normalization of screening for intimate partner violence in Australian antenatal, mental health, and substance abuse services. Violence and Victims, 26(1), 130–144 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1891/0886-6708.26.1.130.
Thapar-Björkert, S., & Morgan, K. J. (2010). ‘But sometimes I think … they put themselves in the situation’: Exploring blame and responsibility in interpersonal violence. Violence Against Women, 16(1), 32–59 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801209354374.
Van Langenhove, L. (2017). Varieties of moral orders and the dual structure of society: A perspective from positioning theory. Frontiers in Sociology, 2, 1–13 (2017). https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2017.00009.
Van Langenhove, L., & Harré, R. (1999). Introducing positioning theory. In R. Harré & L. van Langenhove (Eds.), Positioning theory: Moral context of intentional action (pp. 14–31). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
Virkki, T., Husso, M., Notko, M., Holma, J., Laitila A., & Mäntysaari, M. (2015). Possibilities for intervention in domestic violence: Frame analysis of health care professionals’ attitudes. Journal of Social Service Research, 41(1), 6–24 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1080/01488376.2014.917449.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Piippo, S., Husso, M., Hirvonen, P., Notko, M., Glumbíková, K. (2021). Institutional and Affective Practices of Domestic Violence Interventions in Social Work: Malignant Positioning of Victims. In: Husso, M., Karkulehto, S., Saresma, T., Laitila, A., Eilola, J., Siltala, H. (eds) Violence, Gender and Affect . Palgrave Studies in Victims and Victimology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56930-3_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56930-3_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-56929-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-56930-3
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)