The Construction Of New Practice Field In Social Work Service

With the government largely promoting the " purchase mode " of social work services in recent years,social work as a profession in China as well as the social service agencies has gained increasing opportunities and support to grow.The dark side,however,is that the agencies overly,almost solely,depend on the government's funding and thus limit their room for practice and somewhat undermine their discretion.To mitigate the problems,some agencies have taken active actions collaborating with those corporates that value social responsibility.In so doing,the agencies have managed to expand the sources of financial support,raise their own voice,and increase self-determination.This study sampled the agencies which initiated the "Wei Gong Yi"(micro-philanthropy)projects in H Town,S City.By employing the Field Theory and qualitative methods,the study identifies three sets of relations(i.e.,corporate-agency relation,government-corporate relation,and government-agency-corporate relation),details the emerging process of how the"new field" for practicing social work has been formed in the community,and reveals the actors' strategies in the new field and the logic behind.The study finds that the "Wei Gong Yi" projects done by the agencies went beyond the field of government's purchasing of social services and expanded the sources of funding,which was preparing for a new field for practicing social work.Moreover,by publicizing,delivering effective services,mobilizing social resources from multiple channels,allying the corporates and volunteers,and applying new strategies to counterbalance the dominant control of the government,the agencies nurtured a network that centered "Wei Gong Yi"projects where the actors were able to mutually collaborate and supervise each other.In so doing,a field for practicing social work with discretion was guaranteed.The conclusion of this paper is that in the field of community service,the formation of new fields of social organization or social work is the result of the innovation of social governance in our country and the joint action of social habit and social capital owned by actors in various fields.Among them,the new thinking of "multi-party coordination and cooperation" between grassroots party committees and governments,the concept and habit of practicing public welfare by enterprises,businesses and community residents,the professional abilities and practical strategies of social workers are all providing new generation of fields Support and motivation.In the future practice of innovation social governance and community governance,we must pay attention to the change of social functions of government while purchasing services,so as to establish the equal partnership between the system of "division of labor and cooperation" and the government and social organization Provide system protection.At the same time,it is necessary to actively promote the diversified supply of social services with diverse sources of funds so as to continuously expand the new field of social work services so as to meet the diverse and individualized social service needs of community residents.