TY - JOUR

T1 - Advocating for biographical research in political social work in neoliberal times

AU - Gwilym, Hefin

N1 - This is a post-peer-review, pre-copy edited version of the article published in. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online via the DOI in this record

PY - 2019/8

Y1 - 2019/8

N2 - This article addresses the paucity of social work political biographies by suggesting a novel approach of combining constructivist grounded theory and biographical inquiry methodologies as a recommended way of exploring the neglected field of social work political biographies. Both approaches have their roots in the democratic turn in social sciences research in the 1960s, which should increase their appeal to radical social work researchers. Political biographies of social workers are increasingly important at a time of neoliberal hegemony and the desire to see more social work politicians (Gwilym, 2017). It is hoped that the article will help to generate further interest in the neglected field of social work political biographies and encourage other researchers to engage with this field.

AB - This article addresses the paucity of social work political biographies by suggesting a novel approach of combining constructivist grounded theory and biographical inquiry methodologies as a recommended way of exploring the neglected field of social work political biographies. Both approaches have their roots in the democratic turn in social sciences research in the 1960s, which should increase their appeal to radical social work researchers. Political biographies of social workers are increasingly important at a time of neoliberal hegemony and the desire to see more social work politicians (Gwilym, 2017). It is hoped that the article will help to generate further interest in the neglected field of social work political biographies and encourage other researchers to engage with this field.

KW - neoliberalism

KW - Political biographies

KW - Grounded Theory

KW - Political Social Work

U2 - 10.1332/204986018X15401200291197

DO - 10.1332/204986018X15401200291197

M3 - Article

VL - 7

SP - 203

EP - 214

JO - Critical and Radical Social Work

JF - Critical and Radical Social Work

SN - 2049-8608

IS - 2

ER -