• Publisher: *cf.
• 319 pages
• Author: Mojca Urek
• Original title: Zgodbe na delu: pripovedovanje, zapisovanje in poročanje v socialnem delu

The social sciences experienced a narrative (also called biographical or interpretative) boom in the 1990s. This narrative turn opened an important field of sociological research, which encouraged researching the story (language, communication) in social work. Stories at Work aims to introduce the possibilities that storytelling theories and methods bring to social work. In the manner of social constructivism, the author lays out the central thesis that social work is constructed through narrativity. By analysing documents – oral and written social work reports – Urek shows how social workers use authorial means (e.g., character construction, points of view, plotting) to construct the clients’ (and their own) reality in reports. One of her findings is that the life stories of social work clients are almost as a rule built upon the “problem-focused” ways of knowledge and representation of persons, while overlooking their complexities. Urek presents some innovative social work methods that put more emphasis on individuals’ complex and multi-dimensional stories that have a positive tone and do not merely introduce the clients’ problematic aspects.

About the author

Mojca Urek

Mojca Urek (1966) is an Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Work. She has undertaken research on the narrative approaches in social work, mental health, deinstitutionalisation, gender‐based violence and LGBTQ+ issues. She was the national lead in five European research projects. She is the co‐author of six monographs.