Losing the faith: public sector work and the erosion of career calling
This article tells the story of Dave, a welfare rights advisor who worked his way up to be Assistant Director of Social Services in a Midlands local authority. Dave joined the public sector with a sense of calling and a belief that local government could create positive social change. Over the next...
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| Format: | Article |
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SAGE Publications
2018
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48121/ |
| _version_ | 1848797696747372544 |
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| author | Cohen, Laurie Duberley, Joanne Smith, Pete |
| author_facet | Cohen, Laurie Duberley, Joanne Smith, Pete |
| author_sort | Cohen, Laurie |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This article tells the story of Dave, a welfare rights advisor who worked his way up to be Assistant Director of Social Services in a Midlands local authority. Dave joined the public sector with a sense of calling and a belief that local government could create positive social change. Over the next 25 years, however, Dave’s calling was increasingly challenged as his job and the context in which he worked were transformed. This article focuses on the ways in which Dave navigated the system in an attempt to ‘keep the faith’, before eventually taking early retirement. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:07:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-48121 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:07:59Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | SAGE Publications |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-481212020-05-04T19:25:40Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48121/ Losing the faith: public sector work and the erosion of career calling Cohen, Laurie Duberley, Joanne Smith, Pete This article tells the story of Dave, a welfare rights advisor who worked his way up to be Assistant Director of Social Services in a Midlands local authority. Dave joined the public sector with a sense of calling and a belief that local government could create positive social change. Over the next 25 years, however, Dave’s calling was increasingly challenged as his job and the context in which he worked were transformed. This article focuses on the ways in which Dave navigated the system in an attempt to ‘keep the faith’, before eventually taking early retirement. SAGE Publications 2018-01-05 Article PeerReviewed Cohen, Laurie, Duberley, Joanne and Smith, Pete (2018) Losing the faith: public sector work and the erosion of career calling. Work, Employment and Society . ISSN 1469-8722 Calling Welfare rights Austerity Local government Public sector http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0950017017746906 doi:10.1177/0950017017746906 doi:10.1177/0950017017746906 |
| spellingShingle | Calling Welfare rights Austerity Local government Public sector Cohen, Laurie Duberley, Joanne Smith, Pete Losing the faith: public sector work and the erosion of career calling |
| title | Losing the faith: public sector work and the erosion of career calling |
| title_full | Losing the faith: public sector work and the erosion of career calling |
| title_fullStr | Losing the faith: public sector work and the erosion of career calling |
| title_full_unstemmed | Losing the faith: public sector work and the erosion of career calling |
| title_short | Losing the faith: public sector work and the erosion of career calling |
| title_sort | losing the faith: public sector work and the erosion of career calling |
| topic | Calling Welfare rights Austerity Local government Public sector |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48121/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48121/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48121/ |