Questioning tales of ‘ordinary magic’: ‘Resilience’ and neo-liberal reasoning

Abstract

‘Resilience’ is now a keyword within the academic literature of social work. Nevertheless, there is need to resist ‘resilience talk’ becoming uncritically incorporated into the ‘common sense’ of the profession. A range of criticisms can be directed at the concept of ‘resilience’: first, the problematic operational consequences for children's services, such as an undue social policy emphasis on ‘resilience’; second, the fact that ‘resilience’ discourse is laden with frequently unacknowledged, value judgements and unquestioned assumptions; third, there is far too great an emphasis being placed on individuals at the expense of social structure and wider social forces; and fourth, there is a thematic affinity which unites ‘resilience’ with the more encompassing politics of neo-liberalism.