The relevance of risk work theory to practice: the case of statutory social work and the risk of radicalisation in the UK

Abstract

Statutory social work is in the business of risk work. The work involves decision making about risky events and situations and yet we know very little about how this operates in an everyday practical sense. The risk work associated with terrorism and radicalisation concerns best illustrates this. The PREVENT statutory duty was sanctioned mid 2015 for a range of UK professionals, including social workers, to pay ‘due regard to preventing terrorism’. The duty has contributed to a recalibration of statutory social work practice, towards practices such as counter terrorist policing and security services. Social workers are caught up in ‘anticipatory risk work’ and find themselves working in a ‘pre-crime’ space. This is now an everyday practice issue, with practitioners required to help to ‘offset’ terrorist crime. To date, this recalibration has lacked critical debate by and for social workers. This editorial examines the ethical and practical implications for practitioners and families affected by claims of ‘radicalisation risk’ and ‘extremism risk’ to extend our risk thinking and offer new practical and ethical approaches to risk work. To do so, the article engages with new forms of theorising offered in this special edition. The article concludes with a set of practical and ethics-oriented suggestions for refining risk work in the area of radicalisation and extremism.