Sociology and Anthropology Seminar Series: Joel McGregor

Mr Joel McGregor

The School of Humanities and Social Science Sociology and Anthropology Seminar Series presents Mr Joel McGregor, who will present his paper, "Using friendship as a technical mechanism in reintegration programs for young people who have participated in crime."

Abstract

Case management plays a central role in supporting young people who have recently been released from Juvenile Justice Centres. In providing young people with range of reintegration support, case managers form close relationships with their clients. Activities such as providing assistance in applying for a birth certificate so that the client can verify their identity for a bank account or learner driver licence and guidance in educational and employment pathways, to name a few, become intimate activities whereby the boundaries of the professional role are broken.

In this seminar, I will explore this transgression as a tension which exists in the negotiation of relationships between case manager and client. I will propose that the practice of case management is founded on two, often contradictory, governmental technologies: first, the case manager’s role of friend and confidante to their client, and second, the case manager’s role as a mandatory government reporter. Using findings from my PhD project, the practices and discourses of case management will be investigated where case managers are able to exercise discipline through interpersonal technologies.

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Joel Robert McGregor is a PhD candidate in the School of Humanities and Social Science and casual academic at University of Newcastle, Australia. His research interests lie at the intersection of sociology and criminology with a focus on the effects of incarceration on both detainees and officers. Joel has also completed an honours project which explored the consequences of prison work on retired prison officer.

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This is a free event. All welcome.

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