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Persuasion in Social Work Interviewing

University of Tampere, Finland, eero.suoninen{at}uta.fi

Arja Jokinen

University of Tampere, Finland, arja.jokinen{at}uta.fi

The article collects the variation of forms of subtle persuasion embedded in social work interviewing. It is based on the constructionist idea that institutional interviewing is not an innocent practice of information gathering, but a practice that also produces knowledge and creates identities. A detailed analysis of interview episodes from different social work settings is used to illustrate interview practices, which persuade a client to reconstruct his/her ‘story’. The analysis focuses on four basic devices of persuasion: ‘persuasive questions’, ‘persuasive responses’, ‘asking explanations’ and ‘encouraging questions’. The devices are not clear-cut entities, but they seem in an interesting way to be complementary, and also overlapping in the functions they fulfil. By explicating the interactional construction of the devices, the article aims at contributing to social workers’ understanding of the nature of the means through which practical activities are achieved.

Key Words: institutional interaction • interviewing • persuasion • social work • social constructionism

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