| 1. |
- Larsson, Bengt, 1966-, et al.
(författare)
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Accounting for Personal Overindebtedness : Debtors' Accounts in Applications for Debt Relief at the Swedish Enforcement Authority
- 2012
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Ingår i: Sociological Research Online. - : Sage Publications. - 1360-7804. ; 17:4, s. 114-124
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper aims to describe and understand the accounts given in applications for debt relief/adjustment in relation to the 'question situation' that overindebted person stand before in their encounters with Swedish authorities. The analysis is based on the sociology of accounts and is made against the background of previous research on overindebtedness in the Nordic countries. The paper shows that the accounts given by debtors include examples of 'refusals' and 'denials', but mainly comprise narratives and accounts centred around giving 'justifications' and 'excuses' focusing on external circumstances (illness, unemployment, divorce, bankruptcy), helplessness, or a lack of knowledge or intent (others causing the debt, or problems of addiction). The applications also contain some 'concessions', 'pledges' and 'appeals' by which the debtors try to show that they are improving in taking economic responsibility and deserve debt relief. The analysis thereby shows which accounts are considered legitimate, but also that the framing cues defining and delimiting the question situation are too weak to produce uniform forms of accounting. Many applicants for debt relief respond to a wide definition of the question situation - one that relates to self-image and social identity.
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| 2. |
- Larsson, Bengt, 1966, et al.
(författare)
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Accounting for personal overindebtedness: Debtors’ accounts in applications for debt relief at the Swedish Enforcement Agency
- 2011
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Ingår i: 10th Conference of the European Sociological Association.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- While the Swedish economy is recovering fast from the financial crisis of 2008-9, many households are still in severe and increasing debt problems, not least because of credit driven private consumption. Even though the increase of overindebted persons is coming to a halt at app. 5 % of the population, the number of applications to the Swedish Enforcement Agency for debt release is still increasing (appr 1 %). This paper is part of a project studying the process of debt relief/adjustment in Sweden and analyses 60 such applications. The aim is to describe and understand the accounts given in these applications in relation to the “question situation” that the over-indebted person stands before in their encounters with the authorities. The analysis is based on the sociology of accounts and is made against the background of previous research on the experiences of personal overindebtedness in the Nordic countries. The paper show that the accounts given by debtors include some few examples of “refusals” and “denials”, but mainly comprise of narratives and accounts centred around giving “justifications” and “excuses”, focusing on external circumstances (illness, unemployment, divorce, bankruptcy) helplessness, or a lack of knowledge or intent (others causing the debt or problems of addiction). The applications also contain “concessions”, “pledges” and “appeals” by which the debtors are trying to show that they are improving in taking economic responsibility and deserving a debt relief. The analysis thereby shows which accounts are considered being legitimate, both by the debtors and by the municipal budget- and debt advisers that are to help debtors in applying for debt relief. In addition, the analysis shows that the accounts and narratives given by the debtors often go far beyond what they are asked to explain by the Enforcement Agency, thus indicating that debtors have difficulty in bracketing explanations and accounts produced to acquire social and moral acceptance and re-establishment.
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| 3. |
- Larsson, Bengt, 1966, et al.
(författare)
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Discretion in the “Backyard of Law”: Case Handling of Debt Relief in Sweden
- 2013
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Ingår i: Professions and Professionalism. - Oslo : OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University. - 1893-1049. ; 3:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article explores discretion in welfare professional work. The aim is to analyse what room for discretionary decision-making that exist in case handling of debt relief at the Swedish Enforcement Authority (SEA). The analysis is guided by a conceptual distinction between structural and epistemic aspects of discretion, as well as between substantive and procedural aspects. The data comprises official and internal SEA documents, interviews with management and staff and field notes from observations. The analysis points to a change in the balance between standards and discretion in relation to the on-going formalization of case handling at the SEA, though not in the simplistic sense that discretion is diminished through formalization. When taking into account the different analytical aspects of discretion, it is concluded that discretion is narrowed only in some respects. There is still space for case officers in selecting and interpreting information and assess-ing the conditions regarding subject matter.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Larsson, Bengt, 1966, et al.
(författare)
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Standards and discretion in the “backyard of law” – case handling of debt relief at the Swedish Enforcement Authority
- 2012
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Ingår i: 26th Conference of the Nordic Sociological Association, 15-18 August 2012, University of Iceland, Reykjavik.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The number of applications for debt relief has been increasing in Sweden during the last ten years. Up until 2006 when a new debt relief law was introduced, the number of rejections was higher than the number of decisions on debt relief. But since then that relation has been inversed and the number of positive decision almost twice as high as the number of rejections. The policy of the enforcement agency during the last years has been, not only to grant debt relief in as many cases as possible given the legal space for maneuver, but also to strengthen both the productivity and the uniformity in the decision making process. This paper analyses the case handling in the debt relief process at the Swedish Enforcement Authority. The focus is on the relation between legal standards and professional discretion in case-handling. In addition to this general theme, the paper also discusses the relation between individual and collective interpretive practices, local variation and uniformity, and the translation of the debtors’ accounts and other information into legally binding decisions. The empirical base of the paper is organizational documents from the Enforcement Agency, ethnographic participation at meetings, and interviews with staff and management.
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| 6. |
- Carlson, Marie, 1950, et al.
(författare)
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Arbetslinjen” och ”demokratisk bildning” i sfi-utbildningen – Läraryrket mellan organisation och profession
- 2011
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Ingår i: Svenska nätverket för professionsforskning – konferens den 28-29 september 2011 i Växjö – Kunskap, profession och expertis.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Arbetslinjen” och ”demokratisk bildning” i sfi-utbildningen – Läraryrket mellan organisation och profession. Detta paper fokuserar på lärarprofessionen inom yrkesinriktad sfi (svenska för invandrare) hos ABF Vuxenutbildning, en upphandlad utbildning som drivs som ett bolag separerad från den i övrigt särskilt finansierade folkbildningen. Utbildningsanordnaren har att gestalta en utbildning som starkt präglas av ”arbetslinjen” vilket får en rad konsekvenser. Generellt präglas kurserna av ett uttalat arbetsmarknadsperspektiv som dominerar såväl läromedel/pedagogiska texter som undervisningspraktik. Rådande marknadslogik har medfört att tidigare välfärdstänkande med dess public service-värderingar och jämlikhetsideal har ersatts av nyliberalismens fokusering på ”effektivitet”, ”konkurrens”, ”flexibilitet” och ”entreprenörskap”/”den självstyrande individen”. I en vidare kontext kan ett klart spänningsförhållande konstateras mellan å ena sidan politiker och tjänstemän på vuxenutbildningsförvaltningen och lärarna å andra sidan, men även spänningar inom respektive kategori av aktörer. Lärarna talar om minskat handlingsutrymme, ökad arbetsbörda, en växande byråkratisering, marginalisering av pedagogikens roll och en allt starkare ekonomisk styrning med uppvisning av resultat genom olika kontrollmekanismer. Lärarna erbjuder ett visst motstånd i det att de försöker balansera ”traditionella” professionella överväganden mot den alltmer arbetsinriktade sfi-utbildningen. Som helhet dominerar ett ”ekonomistiskt” språk – ett slags ”kommersialiserad professionalism”. Med detta språk följer vissa tankefigurer och syn på kunskap – det föreligger en kamp mellan organisationsprofessionalism och yrkesprofessionalism. Empiriskt material är hämtat från ett forskningsprojekt, Genus och etnicitet i text och praktik (VR/UVK dnr 721-2005-3616), där vi kombinerat textanalys med institutionell etnografi – olika data har genererats genom intervjuer och deltagande observationer i klassrummet, intervjuer med lärare och rektorer, analyser av olika texter, lokala skolplaner, material från skolornas web-platser, scheman och policydokument.
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| 9. |
- Carlson, Marie, 1950, et al.
(författare)
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Neoliberalising adult education.
- 2019
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Ingår i: In Dahlstedt, Magnus & Andreas Fejes (eds.) Neoliberalism and Market Forces in Education. Lessons from Sweden.. - Oxon & NY : Routledge. - 9781138600881 ; , s. 123-137
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- By drawing on the example of how the largest study association in Sweden, the Workers’ Educational Association (ABF), successfully competed for and won a large share of adult education in Gothenburg in the early 2000s, this chapter illustrates how values previously central to ABF were reshaped. Traditionally, ABF connected to Swedish popular education traditions of ‘bildung’ and the free, broad development of knowledge searching among its participants. By entering the competition for winning bids within adult education, ABF had to reorganise in order to better adapt to the market conditions. It, therefore, created a shareholding company that would be responsible for the adult education they won through procurement in Gothenburg. This area of ABF’s activities thus had to work under the same conditions, with the same logic, as any other business, ideologically shifting the focus from a view of a broader ‘bildung’ to a narrower economic focus on employability. The chapter is based on a policy ethnography in courses for immigrants, where the researchers participated also in teaching practice. Theoretically, a narrative approach is used and especially the teachers' situation is discussed; their reflections on increased bureaucracy, to perform and demonstrate “measurable” results and difficulties in sticking to previous values and knowledge views.
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| 10. |
- Carlson, Marie, 1950, et al.
(författare)
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Om spänningar i en marknadsorienterad SFI-utbildning.
- 2018
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Ingår i: Dahlstedt, M. & Fejes, A. (red.) Skolan, marknaden och framtiden.. - Lund : Studentlitteratur. - 9789144119960 ; , s. 93-111
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Kapitlet fokuserar på lärarprofessionen inom yrkesinriktad SFI (svenska för invandrare) hos ABF Vuxenutbildning, en upphandlad utbildning som drivs som ett bolag separerad från den i övrigt särskilt finansierade folkbildningen. Värdeförskjutningar har ägt rum generellt inom vuxenutbildningen som genomgått omfattande organisationsförändring – detta gäller också för ABF. Utbildningsanordnaren har att gestalta en utbildning som starkt präglas av ett marknadstänkande och ”arbetslinjen”, vilket får en rad konsekvenser för både kursdeltagare och lärare. Kapitlet grundar sig på en policyetnografi, där forskarna deltagit också i undervisningspraktiken. Teoretiskt används en narrativ ansats och särskilt lärarnas situation diskuteras; deras reflektioner kring ökad byråkratisering, att prestera och visa upp ”mätbara” resultat och svårigheter att hålla fast vid tidigare värdegrund och kunskapssyn. Generellt präglas kurserna av ett uttalat arbetsmarknadsperspektiv som dominerar såväl läromedel/pedagogiska texter som undervisningspraktik. Rådande marknadslogik har medfört att tidigare välfärdstänkande med dess public service-värderingar och jämlikhetsideal har ersatts av nyliberalismens fokusering på ”effektivitet”, ”konkurrens”, ”flexibilitet” och ”entreprenörskap”/”den självstyrande individen”.
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