What role does shame play in everyday life in residential care? Based on ethnographic research in Austrian youth care institutions, the publication “Dynamics of Shame in Residential Care. An Ethnography of Child and Youth Services and Disability Services” uncovers how shame emerges in responses to violence. We have conducted an interview with Sara Blumenthal.
Dear Sara Blumenthal, what is your book “Dynamics of Shame in Residential Care. An Ethnography of Child and Youth Services and Disability Services” about?
The book gives insight into interactions in residential care – readers can learn about working and living in residential care facilities in Austria and also read an interpretation of the interactions with references to affects in general and shame in particular.
The book was first published in German. What prompted you to have it published in English as well?
I hope to contribute to the international debate on residential care with this book. Some challenges for residential care as a system are similar across the globe and therefore, I hope that an international readership can benefit from this book.
Which findings of your study were particularly striking? Did something surprise you?
Sanctioning practices like food deprivation or confinement to one’s room are still being used. Especially institutions for children and young people with disabilities have to be developed in this regard. Since diverse forms of violence are a social problem in residential care, it surprises me, that there is not more push for change within the system of social services, aiming at preventing children and young people to enter residential care in the first place.
Which questions emerged following your research? Are you building on any of these aspects in your current research?
Yes, it is interesting to look at social innovations and policy changes, such as obligatory structured approaches to violence protection, within the field of child and youth services.
Who would you recommend this publication to?
Care Workers, students and researchers within Social Work, Educational Science, Psychology and Sociology.
About Sara Blumenthal
Since 03.2019 Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Science (IfEB), Research Unit for Social Pedagogy and Inclusion, University of Klagenfurt
Education
12.2023 Authorized by the University of Klagenfurt to lecture in educational science [Habilitation]
06.2013 Doctoral degree via the Graduate School at the Cluster of Excellence on Languages of Emotion, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
01.2009 Completed Diplom program in educational science at Freie Universität Berlin
Buy “Dynamics of Shame in Residential Care” or download as open access
Dynamics of Shame in Residential Care
An Ethnography of Child and Youth Services and Disability Services
by Sara Blumenthal
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