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”Vi erbjuder rådgivning och stödinsatser. Enheten har myndighetsutövning.” -en kritisk analys av socialtjänsters informationstexter

Jönsson, Anders LU (2012) SOAM11 20121
School of Social Work
Abstract
The purpose of this study has been to analyze the social services' information texts to see
what pattern emerge from these texts, and how this relates to power. Users of social
services in Sweden receive a wide array of information texts from the social welfare
offices. Despite several efforts from the Swedish government to make the language in
these text more simple they still come across as being bureaucratic. The efforts from the
government have been in the form of laws such as “Language Act” and paragraphs of
“Social Services Act” as well as several books on the subjects such as “Myndigheternas
skrivregeler”.
The information texts in this study are taken from ten Scanian municipalities, and have
been analyzed through critical... (More)
The purpose of this study has been to analyze the social services' information texts to see
what pattern emerge from these texts, and how this relates to power. Users of social
services in Sweden receive a wide array of information texts from the social welfare
offices. Despite several efforts from the Swedish government to make the language in
these text more simple they still come across as being bureaucratic. The efforts from the
government have been in the form of laws such as “Language Act” and paragraphs of
“Social Services Act” as well as several books on the subjects such as “Myndigheternas
skrivregeler”.
The information texts in this study are taken from ten Scanian municipalities, and have
been analyzed through critical discourse analysis and qualitative document studies. The
study has focused on which words are used, how the information texts refer to a course of
events and which other discourses the texts draw upon. Gatekeeper theories, theories
about the different aspects of social work and Bourdieus social space theories have been
used as theoretical framework.
The main finding in the study was that a distinct line can be drawn between the text
that refers to what Billquist (1999) labels administrative social work and what Billquist
labels supportive social work. In texts referring to administrative social work the language
is far more bureaucratic and distanced from the reader than in texts referring to supportive
social work. This distinction correlates to where the reader is situated in regard to
gatekeepers in the social services. The reader of administrative social work texts has not
passed the gatekeeper and is not yet entitled to any form of social benefits. The reader of
supportive social work texts has passed the gatekeeper and is entitled to some form of
social benefits.
The use of bureaucratic language can also be related to cultural capital in accordance
with Bourdieus social space theories. The study shows that the language in the
information texts can be related to social workers and users of social services in general
and not only in the individual meeting between a social worker and a user. The study
furthermore claims that the use of bureaucratic language can result in users not choosing
to appeal to court since they believe that they do not have the resources/language to be
able to win a court case against the social welfare office. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Jönsson, Anders LU
supervisor
organization
course
SOAM11 20121
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
gatekeeper, informationstext, dokumentstudie, kritisk diskursanalys, socialt arbete, diskurs, lingvistiskt kapital, socialt rum, Social work, discourse, critical discourse analysis, document study, information texts, linguistic capital, social space
language
Swedish
id
2759846
date added to LUP
2012-06-19 11:53:44
date last changed
2012-06-19 11:53:44
@misc{2759846,
  abstract     = {{The purpose of this study has been to analyze the social services' information texts to see
what pattern emerge from these texts, and how this relates to power. Users of social
services in Sweden receive a wide array of information texts from the social welfare
offices. Despite several efforts from the Swedish government to make the language in
these text more simple they still come across as being bureaucratic. The efforts from the
government have been in the form of laws such as “Language Act” and paragraphs of
“Social Services Act” as well as several books on the subjects such as “Myndigheternas
skrivregeler”.
The information texts in this study are taken from ten Scanian municipalities, and have
been analyzed through critical discourse analysis and qualitative document studies. The
study has focused on which words are used, how the information texts refer to a course of
events and which other discourses the texts draw upon. Gatekeeper theories, theories
about the different aspects of social work and Bourdieus social space theories have been
used as theoretical framework.
The main finding in the study was that a distinct line can be drawn between the text
that refers to what Billquist (1999) labels administrative social work and what Billquist
labels supportive social work. In texts referring to administrative social work the language
is far more bureaucratic and distanced from the reader than in texts referring to supportive
social work. This distinction correlates to where the reader is situated in regard to
gatekeepers in the social services. The reader of administrative social work texts has not
passed the gatekeeper and is not yet entitled to any form of social benefits. The reader of
supportive social work texts has passed the gatekeeper and is entitled to some form of
social benefits.
The use of bureaucratic language can also be related to cultural capital in accordance
with Bourdieus social space theories. The study shows that the language in the
information texts can be related to social workers and users of social services in general
and not only in the individual meeting between a social worker and a user. The study
furthermore claims that the use of bureaucratic language can result in users not choosing
to appeal to court since they believe that they do not have the resources/language to be
able to win a court case against the social welfare office.}},
  author       = {{Jönsson, Anders}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{”Vi erbjuder rådgivning och stödinsatser. Enheten har myndighetsutövning.” -en kritisk analys av socialtjänsters informationstexter}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}