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Mellan jämlik behandling och individuella bedömningar - En kvalitativ studie om socialsekreterares beskrivning av sitt handlingsutrymme.

Svensson, Inez LU and Albinsson, Emma Louise LU (2018) SOPA63 20172
School of Social Work
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the social secretaries description of their discretion. The focus was how discretion is described in relation to the Offices of Social Services as an organization. And how the social secretaries professional identity could be understood in relation to the social secretaries descriptions of their discretion. The participants were invited through a goal-oriented selection within the city of Malmö’s Offices of Social Services and the empirical material was collected through semi-structured interviews with five social workers. To carry out the analysis we used Lipsky's theories on Street-Level Bureaucrats and discretion, Roine Johansson and Tony Evan and Harris thoughts on discretion as well as... (More)
The aim of this study was to investigate the social secretaries description of their discretion. The focus was how discretion is described in relation to the Offices of Social Services as an organization. And how the social secretaries professional identity could be understood in relation to the social secretaries descriptions of their discretion. The participants were invited through a goal-oriented selection within the city of Malmö’s Offices of Social Services and the empirical material was collected through semi-structured interviews with five social workers. To carry out the analysis we used Lipsky's theories on Street-Level Bureaucrats and discretion, Roine Johansson and Tony Evan and Harris thoughts on discretion as well as Charons's theories on social interaction. The results show that while the perception of discretion may vary, all participants highlight the limitations that their organization enacts over their discretion. The social workers express that they are trusted by the organization as long as they follow set norms and standards, and when they confirm pre-established categories. The respondents describe how discretion can work in different ways, both to enable for the client but also as an aspect of power. We could also see how the social secretaries professional identity and the organization's requirements differed, which resulted in the social secretaries was unable to use their discretion as they wanted. (Less)
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author
Svensson, Inez LU and Albinsson, Emma Louise LU
supervisor
organization
course
SOPA63 20172
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
social work, discretion, street-level bureaucrats, individual assessments, decision- making, social interaction, professional identity
language
Swedish
id
8937484
date added to LUP
2018-03-21 10:36:55
date last changed
2018-03-21 10:36:55
@misc{8937484,
  abstract     = {{The aim of this study was to investigate the social secretaries description of their discretion. The focus was how discretion is described in relation to the Offices of Social Services as an organization. And how the social secretaries professional identity could be understood in relation to the social secretaries descriptions of their discretion. The participants were invited through a goal-oriented selection within the city of Malmö’s Offices of Social Services and the empirical material was collected through semi-structured interviews with five social workers. To carry out the analysis we used Lipsky's theories on Street-Level Bureaucrats and discretion, Roine Johansson and Tony Evan and Harris thoughts on discretion as well as Charons's theories on social interaction. The results show that while the perception of discretion may vary, all participants highlight the limitations that their organization enacts over their discretion. The social workers express that they are trusted by the organization as long as they follow set norms and standards, and when they confirm pre-established categories. The respondents describe how discretion can work in different ways, both to enable for the client but also as an aspect of power. We could also see how the social secretaries professional identity and the organization's requirements differed, which resulted in the social secretaries was unable to use their discretion as they wanted.}},
  author       = {{Svensson, Inez and Albinsson, Emma Louise}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Mellan jämlik behandling och individuella bedömningar - En kvalitativ studie om socialsekreterares beskrivning av sitt handlingsutrymme.}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}