Destabilising Citizenship Practices? : Social work and undocumented migrants in Sweden
(2017)- Abstract
- Globalisation of the economy, as well as movement of people and increasing securitisation of borders, have challenged and to different degrees destabilised forms of national belonging and solidarity. Such developments produce new borders and boundaries, separate citizens from non-citizens and create hierarchies of “deservingness”. This dissertation contributes to the analysis of these developments by investigating the role of social work in relation to undocumented migrants in Sweden.
The dissertation rests upon two case studies where social work is performed in support of undocumented migrants, a group most often excluded from the social services. The first case focuses on the guidelines on social assistance in Malmö... (More) - Globalisation of the economy, as well as movement of people and increasing securitisation of borders, have challenged and to different degrees destabilised forms of national belonging and solidarity. Such developments produce new borders and boundaries, separate citizens from non-citizens and create hierarchies of “deservingness”. This dissertation contributes to the analysis of these developments by investigating the role of social work in relation to undocumented migrants in Sweden.
The dissertation rests upon two case studies where social work is performed in support of undocumented migrants, a group most often excluded from the social services. The first case focuses on the guidelines on social assistance in Malmö municipality and the second case focuses on social workers working with unaccompanied minors in different parts of Sweden. The analysis rests on interviews, document analysis, news media material and previous experiences of the researcher. Critical citizenship theory is used to analyse if and how social work practice contributes to destabilisations as well as reinforcements of the present citizenship regime.
The cases are analysed in terms of actions (within the present order) and acts (that go beyond or against the status quo). In the Malmö case, three forms of actions are identified: codification of the law, confirmation of existing practices and disregard of the issue of undocumented migrants in political debates. In the second case, three forms of acts are identified: acts of ”professionalism”, acts of ”compassion” and acts of ”activism”. The acts analysed are not described as straight forward forms of change, but rather as destabilisations. The presence of undocumented migrants at a local level in Malmö and in front of the social workers (face to face) in the case of unaccompanied minors sometimes could lead to that social workers experienced a responsibility, albeit conditioned, beyond what was formally expected of them. In the analysis it is also highlighted that the understanding of the support practices studied changes with context and time perspective. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Globalisering av ekonomin, människors rörelser över nationsgränser såväl som ett ökat fokus på gränskontroller och säkerhet, har utmanat och delvis destabiliserat idéer om nationell tillhörighet och solidaritet. En sådan utveckling bidrar till att nya gränser skapas, den separerar medborgare från icke-medborgare och skapar hierarkier av “värdiga”/”icke-värdiga”. Denna avhandling bidrar till analysen av migration och globalisering genom att undersöka det sociala arbetets roll i förhållande till papperslösa i Sverige.
Avhandlingen studerar två fall där socialt arbete utförs till stöd för papperslösa, en grupp som annars ofta utesluts från socialtjänsten. Den första fallstudien analyserar de riktlinjer för ekonomiskt bistånd som infördes... (More) - Globalisering av ekonomin, människors rörelser över nationsgränser såväl som ett ökat fokus på gränskontroller och säkerhet, har utmanat och delvis destabiliserat idéer om nationell tillhörighet och solidaritet. En sådan utveckling bidrar till att nya gränser skapas, den separerar medborgare från icke-medborgare och skapar hierarkier av “värdiga”/”icke-värdiga”. Denna avhandling bidrar till analysen av migration och globalisering genom att undersöka det sociala arbetets roll i förhållande till papperslösa i Sverige.
Avhandlingen studerar två fall där socialt arbete utförs till stöd för papperslösa, en grupp som annars ofta utesluts från socialtjänsten. Den första fallstudien analyserar de riktlinjer för ekonomiskt bistånd som infördes i Malmö stad 2013. Den andra analyserar socialt arbete med ensamkommande barn i olika delar av Sverige. Analysen baseras på intervjuer, dokumentstudier, mediematerial och forskarens tidigare erfarenheter. Kritisk medborgarskapsteori används för att analysera om och hur det sociala arbetet bidrar till destabilisering såväl som upprätthållande av den rådande medborgarskapsregimen.
Fallstudierna analyseras i termer av actions (inom den rådande ordningen) och acts (som destabiliserar denna ordning). I fallstudien om Malmös riktlinjer identifieras tre sorters actions: en kodifiering av lagen, ett bekräftande av rådande praktik och ett förbiseende av papperslösa i politiska debatter. I fallstudien om arbete med ensamkommande identifieras tre sorters acts: acts of “professionalism”, acts of “compassion” och acts of “activism”. Handlingarna beskrivs som destabiliseringar, snarare än i termer av tydlig förändring. Närvaron av papperslösa på en lokal nivå i Malmö samt i mötet med socialarbetarna (face-to-face) i fallet med ensamkommande barn, kunde ibland leda till att socialarbetare kände ett ansvar, om än villkorat, bortom vad som formellt förväntades av dem. I analysen lyfts det också fram att förståelsen för det stöd som studeras kan förändras utifrån kontext och tidsperspektiv. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/93c1965b-df73-4a9b-b234-4e07ee36b9b6
- author
- Nordling, Vanna LU
- supervisor
-
- Håkan Johansson LU
- Åsa Lundqvist LU
- opponent
-
- Professor Molina, Irene, Uppsala University
- organization
- publishing date
- 2017
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Social work, undocumented migrants, responsibility, acts of citizenship, migration, Socialt arbete, Papperslösa migranter, Ansvarstagande, Medborgarskapshandlingar, Migration
- edition
- Lund Dissertations in Social Work 51
- pages
- 356 pages
- publisher
- Lund University
- defense location
- Eden auditorium, Paradisgatan 5H, Lund
- defense date
- 2017-10-06 10:15:00
- ISBN
- 978-91-89604-58-2
- 978-91-7753-439-6
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 93c1965b-df73-4a9b-b234-4e07ee36b9b6
- date added to LUP
- 2017-09-12 09:01:40
- date last changed
- 2021-04-09 18:32:03
@phdthesis{93c1965b-df73-4a9b-b234-4e07ee36b9b6,
abstract = {{Globalisation of the economy, as well as movement of people and increasing securitisation of borders, have challenged and to different degrees destabilised forms of national belonging and solidarity. Such developments produce new borders and boundaries, separate citizens from non-citizens and create hierarchies of “deservingness”. This dissertation contributes to the analysis of these developments by investigating the role of social work in relation to undocumented migrants in Sweden. <br/><br/>The dissertation rests upon two case studies where social work is performed in support of undocumented migrants, a group most often excluded from the social services. The first case focuses on the guidelines on social assistance in Malmö municipality and the second case focuses on social workers working with unaccompanied minors in different parts of Sweden. The analysis rests on interviews, document analysis, news media material and previous experiences of the researcher. Critical citizenship theory is used to analyse if and how social work practice contributes to destabilisations as well as reinforcements of the present citizenship regime.<br/><br/>The cases are analysed in terms of actions (within the present order) and acts (that go beyond or against the status quo). In the Malmö case, three forms of actions are identified: codification of the law, confirmation of existing practices and disregard of the issue of undocumented migrants in political debates. In the second case, three forms of acts are identified: acts of ”professionalism”, acts of ”compassion” and acts of ”activism”. The acts analysed are not described as straight forward forms of change, but rather as destabilisations. The presence of undocumented migrants at a local level in Malmö and in front of the social workers (face to face) in the case of unaccompanied minors sometimes could lead to that social workers experienced a responsibility, albeit conditioned, beyond what was formally expected of them. In the analysis it is also highlighted that the understanding of the support practices studied changes with context and time perspective.}},
author = {{Nordling, Vanna}},
isbn = {{978-91-89604-58-2}},
keywords = {{Social work; undocumented migrants; responsibility; acts of citizenship; migration; Socialt arbete; Papperslösa migranter; Ansvarstagande; Medborgarskapshandlingar; Migration}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Lund University}},
school = {{Lund University}},
title = {{Destabilising Citizenship Practices? : Social work and undocumented migrants in Sweden}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/31006289/Destabilising_Citizenship_Practices.pdf}},
year = {{2017}},
}