Socialsekreterarna och de digitala verktygen - Gränsarbete inom ekonomiskt bistånd
(2023) SOAM21 20231School of Social Work
- Abstract
- Digital tools are part of the everyday lives of social workers. In the political discourse surrounding the digitalization of social services, this development tends to be described as a naturally occurring force of change. What seems less prominent is how digitalization also carries values and ideas designed within the framework of a social and political context, digital tools are consequently not neutral means. The purpose of this study was therefore to explore how social workers in social assistance relate to their work with digital tools and what significance it has for their view on the professional role. The study was based on a qualitative approach, using semistructured interviews conducted with social workers in Swedish social... (More)
- Digital tools are part of the everyday lives of social workers. In the political discourse surrounding the digitalization of social services, this development tends to be described as a naturally occurring force of change. What seems less prominent is how digitalization also carries values and ideas designed within the framework of a social and political context, digital tools are consequently not neutral means. The purpose of this study was therefore to explore how social workers in social assistance relate to their work with digital tools and what significance it has for their view on the professional role. The study was based on a qualitative approach, using semistructured interviews conducted with social workers in Swedish social services. The empirical material was analyzed by using neo-institutional theory, adding boundary work as an analytical tool. The results showed that the professional role seems to take shape in the meeting between social workers and technology, where negotiation concerns the status of digital tools within the organization. The interviews exposed a tension where, on the one hand, the digital tools tend to be humanized through status as a digital colleague, on the other hand, they are constructed as rational and legally secure in contrast to the human factor. Overall the study showed that depending on what importance the social workers attribute to the digital tools, thus seem to have significance for the content of the social work. Therefore, the results call for further examination of how the development ultimately affects the direction of social work in social assistance. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9125234
- author
- Ohlsson, Matilda LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SOAM21 20231
- year
- 2023
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- digitalization, digital tools, social work, social assistance digitalisering, digitala verktyg, socialtjänsten, ekonomiskt bistånd
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9125234
- date added to LUP
- 2023-06-15 18:27:23
- date last changed
- 2023-06-15 18:27:23
@misc{9125234,
abstract = {{Digital tools are part of the everyday lives of social workers. In the political discourse surrounding the digitalization of social services, this development tends to be described as a naturally occurring force of change. What seems less prominent is how digitalization also carries values and ideas designed within the framework of a social and political context, digital tools are consequently not neutral means. The purpose of this study was therefore to explore how social workers in social assistance relate to their work with digital tools and what significance it has for their view on the professional role. The study was based on a qualitative approach, using semistructured interviews conducted with social workers in Swedish social services. The empirical material was analyzed by using neo-institutional theory, adding boundary work as an analytical tool. The results showed that the professional role seems to take shape in the meeting between social workers and technology, where negotiation concerns the status of digital tools within the organization. The interviews exposed a tension where, on the one hand, the digital tools tend to be humanized through status as a digital colleague, on the other hand, they are constructed as rational and legally secure in contrast to the human factor. Overall the study showed that depending on what importance the social workers attribute to the digital tools, thus seem to have significance for the content of the social work. Therefore, the results call for further examination of how the development ultimately affects the direction of social work in social assistance.}},
author = {{Ohlsson, Matilda}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Socialsekreterarna och de digitala verktygen - Gränsarbete inom ekonomiskt bistånd}},
year = {{2023}},
}