ABSTRACT
This chapter considers how the reader might be persuaded by moral rhetoric and discusses of theoretical approaches to moral construction. Morals and morality are familiar concepts in sociology. There are, however, contrasting versions of the moral dimension. Moral construction has been located in processes of allocating blame and responsibility. Media reporting has become an important arena for debating child abuse. As well as a predisposition to child abuse, a further feature available for the social workers and other professionals to identify is a pattern of abuse. The chapter investigates the construction of moral character and the allocation of blame in the performance of social work accounts. It suggests that morality is not inherent in actions and entities but actively made available in performances and reading relations. The moral character of the perpetrator/murderer can be constructed on the basis of 'the predisposition' and 'the pattern' which suggests social work help or surveillance.
