Buds of critical social work in the welfare bureaus for the minoritized Arab population in Israel

Abstract The research supplements scarce literature discussing direct critical social work intervention in the public sector. It highlights the value of minor but incremental critical practices by minoritized and underprivileged social workers in public welfare institutions. Qualitative tools elicited data from semi-structured interviews with seventeen Arab social workers employed in welfare bureaus in Israel. Buds of direct critical activity were identified, manifested in the selection of target populations enduring institutional exclusion due to their identity as ethno-national minority members, and in interventions that provided a corrective experience by challenging conservative policies that apply an elementalist approach to service users. Alternatively, professionals offered a holistic intervention, as an integrative response to service users’ symbolic deprivation (providing visibility and voice) and their material deprivation (realization of rights and mobilization of community, regional and national resources). Also, small but incremental daily intervention methods were adopted: (1) ‘standing by’ the service users opposite the system, (2) encouraging them and increasing their motivation for change, and (3) supporting mutual learning from successes as an antithesis to a culture of failure. Alongside macro-level interventions such as community work and policy practice, the findings suggest that minor direct critical actions should be considered in future training, guidance and policy design.