I guess they are our bible, A study on regulations and discretion in Swedish social assistance
(2025) WPMM43 20251Department of Political Science
- Abstract
- In this thesis the delegation of decision-making power in Swedish social assistance is explored, researching the variation in delegation and regulations across municipalities, as well as how those regulations impact the discretion of social workers in the field. The research questions are approached using quantitative document analysis to map the delegation orders of Swedish municipalities and a multisite qualitative analysis using interviews to achieve a deeper level understanding of a few selected municipalities. Through interviews with social workers the discretion present and how that discretion is impacted by the regulations in place is explored.
The thesis finds that most municipalities delegate decision-making to social workers... (More) - In this thesis the delegation of decision-making power in Swedish social assistance is explored, researching the variation in delegation and regulations across municipalities, as well as how those regulations impact the discretion of social workers in the field. The research questions are approached using quantitative document analysis to map the delegation orders of Swedish municipalities and a multisite qualitative analysis using interviews to achieve a deeper level understanding of a few selected municipalities. Through interviews with social workers the discretion present and how that discretion is impacted by the regulations in place is explored.
The thesis finds that most municipalities delegate decision-making to social workers through local guidelines, that the variation in regulation-type is low, even if the type of regulation that is the most common entails great room for variation in how the decision-making takes place. Furthermore, the research finds that the approach to guidelines varies greatly between municipalities with some social workers seeing the local guidelines as a central part of their work, and some rarely using the local guidelines actively. Discretion is present in the decision-making of all interviewees, with more room for discretion when deciding who is eligible for benefits, than for what the benefits are. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9191172
- author
- Erichs Lång, Matilda LU
- supervisor
-
- Mats Fred LU
- organization
- course
- WPMM43 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Discretion, regulations, social assistance, delegation, social work
- language
- English
- id
- 9191172
- date added to LUP
- 2025-08-08 13:25:46
- date last changed
- 2025-08-08 13:25:46
@misc{9191172,
abstract = {{In this thesis the delegation of decision-making power in Swedish social assistance is explored, researching the variation in delegation and regulations across municipalities, as well as how those regulations impact the discretion of social workers in the field. The research questions are approached using quantitative document analysis to map the delegation orders of Swedish municipalities and a multisite qualitative analysis using interviews to achieve a deeper level understanding of a few selected municipalities. Through interviews with social workers the discretion present and how that discretion is impacted by the regulations in place is explored.
The thesis finds that most municipalities delegate decision-making to social workers through local guidelines, that the variation in regulation-type is low, even if the type of regulation that is the most common entails great room for variation in how the decision-making takes place. Furthermore, the research finds that the approach to guidelines varies greatly between municipalities with some social workers seeing the local guidelines as a central part of their work, and some rarely using the local guidelines actively. Discretion is present in the decision-making of all interviewees, with more room for discretion when deciding who is eligible for benefits, than for what the benefits are.}},
author = {{Erichs Lång, Matilda}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{I guess they are our bible, A study on regulations and discretion in Swedish social assistance}},
year = {{2025}},
}