“Jag hör aldrig någon som pratar om makt, men man pratar om saker som berör makt” En kvalitativ studie om socialsekreterares syn på makt och dess konsekvenser i förhållande till klienter
(2021) SOPA63 20202School of Social Work
- Abstract
- The aim of this study was to investigate how social workers who provide financial assistance perceive power in relation to their clients and to see how power affects the initial encounter. Power is a hard concept to define, especially when it is in a context where law, regulations, and professional discretion is involved. As representatives of an organisation they have to manage both the organisational goals as well as the clients' needs which led to contradictions. At the same time, it is work that takes place in a relationship defined by the power that is unevenly distributed and the social worker is the one with the most power to affect the outcome for the client. This study is based on semi-structured interviews with social workers... (More)
- The aim of this study was to investigate how social workers who provide financial assistance perceive power in relation to their clients and to see how power affects the initial encounter. Power is a hard concept to define, especially when it is in a context where law, regulations, and professional discretion is involved. As representatives of an organisation they have to manage both the organisational goals as well as the clients' needs which led to contradictions. At the same time, it is work that takes place in a relationship defined by the power that is unevenly distributed and the social worker is the one with the most power to affect the outcome for the client. This study is based on semi-structured interviews with social workers that work with financial assistance in Sweden. The main conclusion achieved in the study is that the relationship between social workers and clients is an unbalanced one when it comes to an aspect of power. The social workers feel that they are constrained by laws and regulations which leads to feelings of powerlessness to help even though they have the power to make decisions that affect the future outcome for their clients. According to the social workers in question, the dynamics of power can shift in the meeting with clients when a relationship is formed. Here clients can use different strategies to alter the power in their favor. But in the end, it is the social workers who have the power to make the final decision if financial aid is to be handed out or not. The outcome of this decision can have consequences for the relationship between the social worker and the client if the meeting and relationship context of the meeting and the relationship are not explained. And the way social workers choose to use their discretion also has an effect on how the power is used and perceived. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9037155
- author
- Kandas, Reem LU and Svensson, Daniel LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SOPA63 20202
- year
- 2021
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Social work, power, financial aid, client, relationship
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9037155
- date added to LUP
- 2021-01-21 13:35:10
- date last changed
- 2021-01-21 13:35:10
@misc{9037155,
abstract = {{The aim of this study was to investigate how social workers who provide financial assistance perceive power in relation to their clients and to see how power affects the initial encounter. Power is a hard concept to define, especially when it is in a context where law, regulations, and professional discretion is involved. As representatives of an organisation they have to manage both the organisational goals as well as the clients' needs which led to contradictions. At the same time, it is work that takes place in a relationship defined by the power that is unevenly distributed and the social worker is the one with the most power to affect the outcome for the client. This study is based on semi-structured interviews with social workers that work with financial assistance in Sweden. The main conclusion achieved in the study is that the relationship between social workers and clients is an unbalanced one when it comes to an aspect of power. The social workers feel that they are constrained by laws and regulations which leads to feelings of powerlessness to help even though they have the power to make decisions that affect the future outcome for their clients. According to the social workers in question, the dynamics of power can shift in the meeting with clients when a relationship is formed. Here clients can use different strategies to alter the power in their favor. But in the end, it is the social workers who have the power to make the final decision if financial aid is to be handed out or not. The outcome of this decision can have consequences for the relationship between the social worker and the client if the meeting and relationship context of the meeting and the relationship are not explained. And the way social workers choose to use their discretion also has an effect on how the power is used and perceived.}},
author = {{Kandas, Reem and Svensson, Daniel}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{“Jag hör aldrig någon som pratar om makt, men man pratar om saker som berör makt” En kvalitativ studie om socialsekreterares syn på makt och dess konsekvenser i förhållande till klienter}},
year = {{2021}},
}