To speak or not to speak. The responses of social workers and volunteers to adverse conditions in supporting refugees

The presence and arrival of refugees in Western European countries like the Netherlands is a topical and emotionally charged issue. (Extreme) right-wing governments increasingly restrict refugee reception. Within this challenging political and institutional landscape, social workers and volunteers supporting refugees face adverse conditions while navigating rules, policies and practices. Although social work literature urges them to speak up, they rarely seem to do so. However, in this article we argue that they do resist, though not in the manner portrayed in the literature. Using Hirschman's exit, voice, and loyalty framework and the concept of everyday resistance, we identify two distinct forms of voice: political voice and everyday voice. Our findings demonstrate that volunteers and social workers tend to prefer everyday voice, expressed in unobtrusive ways. We found political voice as well, although it is less prevalent than everyday voice and contingent on local circumstances. Our analysis indicates that the literature on voice among social workers and volunteers places overly high expectations on political voice. We argue for a more thorough exploration of everyday expressions of voice and their interplay with local context.