Poverty, recognition, therapy
Poverty, recognition, therapy
This chapter opens Part Two of the book, which is dedicated to the PAP’s version of relationship-based practice. The chapter introduces readers to the concept of recognition, linking it to poverty and therapy. Based on a review of works by philosophers and psychoanalysts, this chapter argues that recognition is a basic component of the therapeutic relationship that enables the psychological experience of one’s subjectivity. Nevertheless, in the context of the power relations that constitute the helping relations with people in poverty, recognition must overcome specific obstacles. The chapter argues that in order to give recognition to service users living in poverty, social workers should acknowledge four aspects of service users’ inner worlds: their needs, their knowledge, the emotional pain caused by poverty, and their ways of resisting poverty. Acknowledging these four aspects enables full recognition and makes it possible to see the full humanity of service users and establish close relationships with them. The recognition of these four aspects are further detailed and exemplified in the next three chapters.
Keywords: recognition, subjectivity, relationship, power, psychoanalysis, philosophy, symbolic-relational
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