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When Welfare Professionals Encounter Restructuring and Privatization: The Inside Story of the Probation Service of England and Wales

Author

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  • Gill Kirton

    (Queen Mary University of London, UK)

  • Cécile Guillaume

    (University of Roehampton, UK)

Abstract

This article utilizes a multi-method case study of the probation service of England and Wales to explore the perspectives of practitioners and their union on how restructuring/privatization affected the probation profession. Professionals perceived restructuring/privatization as ideologically and politically motivated, rather than evidence-based in relation to service goals. Against this context, the article outlines the probation union’s organized resistance, but ultimately its inability to halt the reform. The findings highlight practitioners’ concept of ‘the death of probation’ created by philosophical opposition to privatization, but also by the splitting of their profession and the resultant assault on professionalism. The study underlines the unique aspects of restructuring/privatization in the specific service domain, in particular those linked to working with a socially stigmatized client group, but it also has resonance for other public service professions facing the actuality or prospect of restructuring/privatization.

Suggested Citation

  • Gill Kirton & Cécile Guillaume, 2019. "When Welfare Professionals Encounter Restructuring and Privatization: The Inside Story of the Probation Service of England and Wales," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 33(6), pages 929-947, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:33:y:2019:i:6:p:929-947
    DOI: 10.1177/0950017019855229
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Matt Tidmarsh, 2022. "Professional Legitimacy, Identity, and Practice: Towards a Sociology of Professionalism in Probation," The British Journal of Criminology, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, vol. 62(1), pages 165-183.
    2. Chih-Hung Yuan & Dajiang Wang & Chuanyu Mao & Feixia Wu, 2020. "An Empirical Comparison of Graduate Entrepreneurs and Graduate Employees Based on Graduate Entrepreneurship Education and Career Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-15, December.
    3. Genevieve Coderre-LaPalme & Ian Greer & Lisa Schulte, 2023. "Welfare, Work and the Conditions of Social Solidarity: British Campaigns to Defend Healthcare and Social Security," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 37(2), pages 352-372, April.
    4. Stephen Mustchin & Miguel Martínez Lucio, 2023. "The fragmenting occupation of labour inspection and the degradation of regulatory and enforcement work inside the British state," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 44(2), pages 526-546, May.

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