IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/poango/v6y2018i4p73-82.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Emotional Interest Representation and the Politics of Risk in Child Protection

Author

Listed:
  • Jo Warner

    (School of Social Policy, Sociology & Social Research, University of Kent, UK)

Abstract

This article explores the emotional dimensions of political representation by British Members of Parliament (MP) in relation to child protection. The public speech acts and first-hand accounts of three MPs are drawn upon as examples. These highlight different forms of emotional interest representation that arise following the death of a local child from severe abuse or neglect and in response to anxieties in the community about risk. Firstly, I examine the role of the MP in seeking to embody their constituency in the public expression of collective emotional responses and to defend it from feelings of guilt and shame. Personal feelings of guilt and a consciousness of the politician’s role in attributing blame are then considered. Thirdly, I explore the role of the MP as trusted envoy for anxieties about risk to individual children within their constituencies. The article draws on Berezin’s concept of the secure state and Hochschild’s notion of politicians as feeling legislators, and is based on qualitative documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews with MPs. It is argued that the emotional processes outlined are central to understanding the problematic relationship between politics and state social work that fuels the cycle of crisis and reform in children’s services in the UK.

Suggested Citation

  • Jo Warner, 2018. "Emotional Interest Representation and the Politics of Risk in Child Protection," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 73-82.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:4:p:73-82
    DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i4.1521
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1521
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/pag.v6i4.1521?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Trineke Palm, 2018. "Interwar Blueprints of Europe: Emotions, Experience and Expectation," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 135-143.
    2. Simon Koschut, 2018. "Appropriately Upset? A Methodological Framework for Tracing the Emotion Norms of the Transatlantic Security Community," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 125-134.
    3. Trineke Palm, 2018. "Interwar Blueprints of Europe: Emotions, Experience and Expectation," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 135-143.
    4. Rosa Sanchez Salgado, 2018. "The Advocacy of Feelings: Emotions in EU-Based Civil Society Organizations’ Strategies," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 103-114.
    5. Simon Koschut, 2018. "Appropriately Upset? A Methodological Framework for Tracing the Emotion Norms of the Transatlantic Security Community," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 125-134.
    6. Rosa Sanchez Salgado, 2018. "The Advocacy of Feelings: Emotions in EU-Based Civil Society Organizations’ Strategies," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 103-114.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alex Michael Prior, 2018. "Getting the Story Right: A Constructivist Interpretation of Storytelling in the Context of UK Parliamentary Engagement," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 83-94.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tereza Capelos & Stavroula Chrona, 2018. "The Map to the Heart: An Analysis of Political Affectivity in Turkey," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 144-158.
    2. Alex Prior & Yuri van Hoef, 2018. "Interdisciplinary Approaches to Emotions in Politics and International Relations," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 48-52.
    3. Jo Warner, 2018. "Emotional Interest Representation and the Politics of Risk in Child Protection," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 73-82.
    4. Tereza Capelos & Stavroula Chrona, 2018. "The Map to the Heart: An Analysis of Political Affectivity in Turkey," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 144-158.
    5. Alex Prior & Yuri van Hoef, 2018. "Interdisciplinary Approaches to Emotions in Politics and International Relations," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 48-52.
    6. Anna Durnová, 2018. "Understanding Emotions in Policy Studies through Foucault and Deleuze," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 95-102.
    7. Trineke Palm, 2018. "Interwar Blueprints of Europe: Emotions, Experience and Expectation," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 135-143.
    8. Rosa Sanchez Salgado, 2023. "Uncovering Power Dynamics: Feeling Rules in European Policy‐making," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(2), pages 526-544, March.
    9. Anna Durnová, 2018. "Understanding Emotions in Policy Studies through Foucault and Deleuze," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 95-102.
    10. Trineke Palm, 2018. "Interwar Blueprints of Europe: Emotions, Experience and Expectation," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 135-143.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:4:p:73-82. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.