Bringing together the perspectives of an internationally renowned group of specialists, the collection addresses a range of issues associated with professional identity construction and 'being professional' in the context of a rapidly changing inter-professional environment. It explores traditional aspects of professional identity such as beliefs, values, in-group status and belonging, alongside themes of professional socialisation, workplace culture, group membership, boundary maintenance, jurisdiction disputes and inter-professional tensions with health, education and the police.

Stephen A. Webb is Professor of Social Work at Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland. Previous to this he was Professor of Human Sciences and Director of the Institute for Social Inclusion and Well-being, University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia and Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Sussex, UK.

Acknowledgements

Notes on Contributors

Chapter 1 Matters of Professional Identity and Social Work

Stephen A. Webb

PART 1 Key concepts and perspectives

Chapter 2 Perspectives on Professional Identity: the changing world of the social worker

Mike Dent

Chapter 3 What is professional identity and how do social workers acquire it?

Fran Wiles

Chapter 4 Materiality, Performance and the Making of Professional Identity

Torben Elgaard Jensen

Chapter 5 Constructing the social, constructing social work

Elizabeth Harlow

PART 2 Location, context and workplace culture

Chapter 6 Vocation and professional identity: Social workers at home and abroad

Mark Erickson and Jem Price

Chapter 7 Risk work in the formation of the 'professional' in child protection social work

Emily Keddell and Tony Stanley

Chapter 8 Identity formation, scientific rationality and embodied knowledge in child welfare

Melissa Hardesty

Chapter 9 Field, Capital and Professional Identity: Social Work in Health Care

Liz Beddoe

Chapter 10 Interprofessional collaboration: strengthening or weakening social work identity?

Julia Emprechtinger and Peter Voll

Chapter 11 Commitment in the making of professional identity

Stewart Collins

Chapter 12 Professional identity in the care and upbringing of children: towards a praxis of residential child care

Mark Smith

PART 3 Professional education, socialisation and readiness for practice

Chapter 13 Shaping Identity? The Professional Socialisation of Social Work Students

Julia Wheeler

Chapter 14 Credible performances: Affect and professional identity

Jadwiga Leigh

Chapter 15 Making Professional Identity: Narrative Work and Fateful Moments

Maura Daly and Martin Kettle

Chapter 16 Professional Identity as a Matter of Concern

Stephen A. Webb

References

Index