Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Sustaining a plurality of imperatives: an institutional analysis of knowledge perspectives in Swedish social service policies
Ersta Sköndal Bräcke University College, Department of Social Sciences.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7116-5601
Ersta Sköndal Bräcke University College, Centre for Civil Society Research.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5015-0443
Ersta Sköndal Bräcke University College, Department of Social Sciences.
2021 (English)In: Social Work & Social Sciences Review, ISSN 0953-5225, E-ISSN 1746-6105, Vol. 22, no 2, p. 23-44Article, review/survey (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Social services are among the public policy areas criticized for lacking a reliable knowledge base to support professional as well as political ambitions and actions. This article contributes to the literature on knowledge perspectives in social service policies by studying and analyzing mechanisms that sustain a plurality of perspectives in the policies. The empirical material consists of knowledge perspectives in social service policies at the national level for child and family care and substance abuse treatment in Sweden between 1992 and 2015. Mechanisms that sustain a plurality of perspectives are identified with the support of an institutional logics framework. The main findings are that a plurality of knowledge perspectives. such as professional, scientific, and organizational, seems to be a permanent rather than temporary configuration; and that this permanent plurality is sustained by a set of mechanisms, including assimilation, blending, segregation, and contradiction. Despite this pluralism, there are few comments or guidelines in policy regarding the relationship between different knowledge perspectives. The findings suggest that more attention should be paid to the relationship between different knowledge perspectives and its impact on social work practice. In this, research and practice together need to support a development towards a more transparent professional acting.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2021. Vol. 22, no 2, p. 23-44
Keywords [en]
Policy, Knowledge perspectives, Social services, Institutional logics, Co-existence
National Category
Social Work
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:esh:diva-9060OAI: oai:DiVA.org:esh-9060DiVA, id: diva2:1587875
Available from: 2021-08-25 Created: 2021-08-25 Last updated: 2023-11-21Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

FULLTEXT

Authority records

Wollter, FilipSegnestam Larsson, OlaOscarsson, Lars

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Wollter, FilipSegnestam Larsson, OlaOscarsson, Lars
By organisation
Department of Social SciencesCentre for Civil Society Research
In the same journal
Social Work & Social Sciences Review
Social Work

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

urn-nbn

Altmetric score

urn-nbn
Total: 376 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf