Oppressed Profession?-Taiwanese Social Workers’ Subject Experiences of Oppression

• Main Authors: HUANG, YU-TIEN, 黃毓恬
• Other Authors: Wang, Shu-Yuan
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2019
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/get97y

碩士 === 國立暨南國際大學 === 社會政策與社會工作學系 === 107 === After the approval of the Social Worker Act, Taiwan officially entered the licensing stage. Nevertheless, the severe working environment of social works continues to challenge social workers. This study aims to investigate the experiences and feelings of the oppression that Taiwanese social workers face at work. The research was conducted using both quality and quantitative research methods. This study employed the five types of oppression oriented by scholar Iris Young as its theoretical framework. The questionnaires were distributed via the Internet, in response to which, 336 valid questionnaires were collected. According to the results of factor analysis, the four factors of "labor conditions and working environment", "the professional non-autonomy of social work ", "client ", "authority and bureaucracy " are discussed. Seven interviewees were invited to conduct qualitative interviews. On examining the subject experience of social workers, more than half of the respondents, to be more specific, over 70% of the respondents indicated that they have experienced different situations of oppression. It is concluded that Taiwanese social workers are oppressed in reality. The research shows: (1) In terms of labor conditions and working environment and professional autonomy, the Social Workers’ experience of being oppressed is more obvious than that of the Senior Social Workers. (2) Regarding the feelings of the client, it is obvious that the social workers who undertake the government's commissioned programs are more oppressed than the social workers have no government's commissioned program. (3) In terms of working conditions and the feelings of the working environment, the oppression experience of social workers with 5 years’ experience is more obvious than those with fewer-than-one year’s experience; As for the feelings of the client, the social workers who have been working for 3 to 5 years and more than 5 years face more oppression than those who have fewer than one year’s experience, and those with more than 5 years’ experience face more oppression than those who have been working for 1 to 3 years. (4) In terms of working conditions and the feelings of the working environment, social workers who receive a salary of 26,000 to 29,000 NTD experience more oppression than other groups. In the recent years, the predicament and harsh working environment of social work in Taiwan have gradually been understood by the public and private sectors. In addition to improving welfare benefits, it is even more important to re-examine and hearken the oppression and limitations of front-line social workers in practice. It is also suggested that voices and suggestions of grassroots should be paid attention to and different sectors work together to create a stable working environment for social workers, and provide professional service quality.