1.
Kjellbom, Pia, 1956-
(författare)
Påtvingad avflyttning från bostad : En rättssociologisk studie av socialtjänstens roll i teori och praktik
2014
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The aim of the study was to analyse what the law is in social services work with people at risk of a forced move-out from a rented apartment. When processing an application for financial aid when a client is at risk of a forced move-out from a home, a discretionary interpretation of the criteria in the Social Services Act is assumed. The legal norm belt constituting the social services role in theory typically makes up the limits of the discretionary space. However, different workplace norms may also have significant influence on the discretionary space around the provision of assistance. Such standards emerging from expressions in local policies (municipal guidelines) and procedures, and interactions with managers, colleagues and clients, are shaping the role of social services in practice. On top of this, differing standards regarding the role of law may have an impact.Key conclusions of the study are: (1) In the vast majority of landlord applications to the enforcement authorities, financial assistance from the social services had no bearing on the outcome of the case. (2) The rental law sometimes has a decisive influence over what is and can be the law in social services’ work for clients at risk of a forced move-out due to payment difficulties. ((3) There is a relatively high degree of consistency between norms in legal materials and different workplace standards. (4) Most of the standards identified in legal material and in social work practice have been categorized as related to either need or behaviour. Generally, it is concluded that need-related norms sometimes strongly imply protection not only for an existing home, but also for individual housing needs in general. In contrast, behaviour-related norms imply indifference in relation to not only an existing home but sometimes also to the applicant’s housing needs in general. These conditions create tensions in the social services’ decision-making and confusion about the aim of the individual needs assessment.
2.
Wernesjö, Ulrika, 1980-
(författare)
Conditional Belonging : Listening to Unaccompanied Young Refugees’ Voices
2014
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This thesis explores negotiations of belonging among unaccompanied young refugees in Sweden. The thesis further aims to shed light on methodological aspects of bringing out their voices. The analysis draws on postcolonial and poststructuralist approaches to belonging and relates belonging to the concepts of home, place, racialization and notions of “Swedishness”.The thesis analyses qualitative interviews with 17 young people, who arrived in Sweden as unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors and have been granted permanent residency. The interviews are complemented with walk-alongs and photography-based interviews.Paper 1 gives an overview and discussion of research on unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors. I argue that there is a lack of their voices in the research, and that their own agency and perspectives are not addressed due to a focus on vulnerability and emotional health (or lack thereof). Paper II, which is delimited to participants in a rural village, shows that they negotiate belonging and a sense of home related to places but that othering is constraining. In paper II and III I suggest that the participants’ belongings and position in Sweden can be understood as conditional due to othering and racialization. In paper III, I argue that expressing gratitude can be understood as a form of impression management and, thus be a strategy to negotiate their position in the interview setting as in the host country.I finally argue that in order to understand the participants’ negotiations of belonging attention has to be paid to their agency as well as the conditioning of belonging in discourses and in interactions on the local level.
