Evidence, Expertise and 'Other' Knowledge : Governing Welfare Collaboration
(2018) In Lund Political Studies- Abstract
- This dissertation analyses how welfare collaboration is governed, focusing on the role of knowledge in government. In the public sector – and in welfare especially – collaboration between agencies, municipal departments and welfare professions is a recurring response to various problems where the traditional public-sector institutions are considered inapt to provide solutions. By studying a specific case of welfare collaboration focusing on children and youth, the purpose of this dissertation is to explore how collaboration is governed. With an explorative approach – drawing upon an ethnographic methodology coupled with a Foucauldian perspective on government – the study focuses on government practices, thus going beyond formal tools and... (More)
- This dissertation analyses how welfare collaboration is governed, focusing on the role of knowledge in government. In the public sector – and in welfare especially – collaboration between agencies, municipal departments and welfare professions is a recurring response to various problems where the traditional public-sector institutions are considered inapt to provide solutions. By studying a specific case of welfare collaboration focusing on children and youth, the purpose of this dissertation is to explore how collaboration is governed. With an explorative approach – drawing upon an ethnographic methodology coupled with a Foucauldian perspective on government – the study focuses on government practices, thus going beyond formal tools and relations of government. The dissertation features practices that govern by drawing upon different forms of knowledge, and the concept of knowledge regimes is used to describe this form of governing. Based on a case study, carried out mainly through observations and interviews, it is shown how different forms of knowledge are enacted within collaboration. In a regime of expert knowledge, researchers are involved to provide their scientific knowledge by participating as evaluators and lecturers. In a regime of standardised knowledge, impersonal and universal knowledge – such as evidence-based instruments and management models – is applied. In a regime of local knowledge, unarticulated knowledge held by different professionals is enacted – often appearing as the ‘other’ of more established knowledge forms. Different forms of knowledge all govern welfare collaboration through the practices in which they are enacted. A key conclusion and argument is that the diversity of knowledge and the relationship between different forms of knowledge must be taken into consideration in studies of welfare collaboration and within the public sector in general. The study shows a simultaneous presence of multiple knowledge regimes and that different forms of knowledge appear side by side in the same organisation and even within the same collaboration projects. By describing and analysing the role of knowledge in governing welfare collaboration, this study contributes to research on welfare and how welfare is organised and governed. It also contributes to research on the relationship between knowledge and politics and the role of knowledge within public administration more broadly. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- I den här avhandlingen studeras styrning av välfärdssamverkan, med focus på betydelsen av kunskap i styrning. I offentlig verksamhet – och i välfärd i synnerhet – är samverkan mellan myndigheter, kommunala förvaltningar och välfärdsprofessionella ett återkommande sätt att hantera olika problem som de traditionella offentliga institutionerna anses oförmögna att lösa. Genom att studera ett specifikt fall av välfärdssamverkan, med fokus på barn och unga, är syftet med den här avhandlingen att utforska hur samverkan styrs. Med en explorativ ansats – baserad på etnografisk metodologi och en Foucauldiansk syn på styrning – fokuserar studien på styrningspraktiker bortom formella styrinstrument och relationer. Avhandlingen skildrar praktiker som... (More)
- I den här avhandlingen studeras styrning av välfärdssamverkan, med focus på betydelsen av kunskap i styrning. I offentlig verksamhet – och i välfärd i synnerhet – är samverkan mellan myndigheter, kommunala förvaltningar och välfärdsprofessionella ett återkommande sätt att hantera olika problem som de traditionella offentliga institutionerna anses oförmögna att lösa. Genom att studera ett specifikt fall av välfärdssamverkan, med fokus på barn och unga, är syftet med den här avhandlingen att utforska hur samverkan styrs. Med en explorativ ansats – baserad på etnografisk metodologi och en Foucauldiansk syn på styrning – fokuserar studien på styrningspraktiker bortom formella styrinstrument och relationer. Avhandlingen skildrar praktiker som styr genom olika typer av kunskap och för att beskriva den här formen av styrning används begreppet kunskapsregimer. Utifrån en fallstudie bestående av huvudsakligen observationer och intervjuer visas hur olika typer av kunskaper kommer till uttryck inom samverkan. Genom en regim baserad på expertkunskap involveras forskare – som utvärderare och föreläsare – för att delge sin vetenskapliga kunskap. Genom en regim baserad på standardiserad kunskap tillämpas icke-personbunden och universell kunskap, såsom evidensbaserade verktyg och managementmodeller. Genom en regim baserad på lokal kunskap så tillämpas icke-artikulerad kunskap som olika professionella grupper besitter – en kunskap som ofta framstår som avvikande gentemot mer etablerade kunskapstyper. Olika typer av kunskap styr välfärdssamverkan genom de praktiker där de gestaltas och kommer till uttryck. En viktig slutsats och argument i avhandlingen är att mångfalden av kunskap och relationerna mellan olika typer av kunskap behöver beaktas i studier av välfärdssamverkan och inom offentlig sektor mer generellt. Studien visar hur olika kunskapsregimer existerar samtidigt och att olika kunskapstyper förekommer sida vid sida inom en och samma organisation och även inom samma samverkansprojekt. Genom att beskriva och analysera betydelsen av kunskap i styrningen av välfärdssamverkan innebär studien ett bidrag till forskning om välfärd och hur välfärden organiseras och styrs. Avhandlingen är också ett bidrag till forskning om relationen mellan kunskap och politik och betydelsen av kunskap i offentlig förvaltning i bred bemärkelse. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/cc5526e5-113a-4b41-8c17-65db223dad8b
- author
- Chaib, Josef LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- Docent Hedlund, Gun, Örebro University
- organization
- publishing date
- 2018
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Collaboration, practices, government, knowledge, knowledge regimes, samverkan, praktiker, kunskap, styrning, kunskapsregim
- in
- Lund Political Studies
- issue
- 191
- pages
- 250 pages
- publisher
- Lund University
- defense location
- Auditorium C, Nordenskiöldsgatan 1 (Niagara), Malmö University
- defense date
- 2018-10-12 10:15:00
- ISSN
- 0460-0037
- ISBN
- 978-91-7753-813-4
- 978-91-7753-812-7
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- cc5526e5-113a-4b41-8c17-65db223dad8b
- date added to LUP
- 2018-09-19 13:33:26
- date last changed
- 2019-09-08 15:15:50
@phdthesis{cc5526e5-113a-4b41-8c17-65db223dad8b,
abstract = {{This dissertation analyses how welfare collaboration is governed, focusing on the role of knowledge in government. In the public sector – and in welfare especially – collaboration between agencies, municipal departments and welfare professions is a recurring response to various problems where the traditional public-sector institutions are considered inapt to provide solutions. By studying a specific case of welfare collaboration focusing on children and youth, the purpose of this dissertation is to explore how collaboration is governed. With an explorative approach – drawing upon an ethnographic methodology coupled with a Foucauldian perspective on government – the study focuses on government practices, thus going beyond formal tools and relations of government. The dissertation features practices that govern by drawing upon different forms of knowledge, and the concept of knowledge regimes is used to describe this form of governing. Based on a case study, carried out mainly through observations and interviews, it is shown how different forms of knowledge are enacted within collaboration. In a regime of expert knowledge, researchers are involved to provide their scientific knowledge by participating as evaluators and lecturers. In a regime of standardised knowledge, impersonal and universal knowledge – such as evidence-based instruments and management models – is applied. In a regime of local knowledge, unarticulated knowledge held by different professionals is enacted – often appearing as the ‘other’ of more established knowledge forms. Different forms of knowledge all govern welfare collaboration through the practices in which they are enacted. A key conclusion and argument is that the diversity of knowledge and the relationship between different forms of knowledge must be taken into consideration in studies of welfare collaboration and within the public sector in general. The study shows a simultaneous presence of multiple knowledge regimes and that different forms of knowledge appear side by side in the same organisation and even within the same collaboration projects. By describing and analysing the role of knowledge in governing welfare collaboration, this study contributes to research on welfare and how welfare is organised and governed. It also contributes to research on the relationship between knowledge and politics and the role of knowledge within public administration more broadly.}},
author = {{Chaib, Josef}},
isbn = {{978-91-7753-813-4}},
issn = {{0460-0037}},
keywords = {{Collaboration; practices; government; knowledge; knowledge regimes; samverkan; praktiker; kunskap; styrning; kunskapsregim}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{191}},
publisher = {{Lund University}},
school = {{Lund University}},
series = {{Lund Political Studies}},
title = {{Evidence, Expertise and 'Other' Knowledge : Governing Welfare Collaboration}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/51455823/Chaib_Josef_manuscript._Evidence_Expertise_and_Other_knowledge.pdf}},
year = {{2018}},
}