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Coping with Tensions between Standardization and Individualization in Social Assistance
Malmö University, Sweden.
Linnaeus University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Social Work.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-4740-2499
Lund university, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2655-2132
2022 (English)In: Nordic Social Work Research, ISSN 2156-857X, E-ISSN 2156-8588, Vol. 12, no 4, p. 435-449Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Today’s ambition to adapt and individualize welfare delivery poses a challenge to human service organizations at the same time seeking to standardize clients, with consequences for street-level bureaucrats. In this article, the implementation of an instrument for standardized assessment of income support (IA) in Swedish social services is used to investigate what strategies street-level bureaucrats use to cope with tensions between standardization and individualization. Results from six focus groups in two organizations show how job coaches cope by individualizing their practice towards the client, while caseworkers equally often cope through standardization, which could work towards or against the client, in order to keep their discretion and handle organizational demands. Results point to a loose coupling between IA as an organizational tool for legitimacy, and as a pragmatically used questionnaire. Conflicts and contradictions are left to street-level bureaucrats to deal with.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Taylor & Francis Group, 2022. Vol. 12, no 4, p. 435-449
Keywords [en]
Coping, Standardization, Individualization, Social Assistance, Ekonomiskt bistånd
National Category
Social Work
Research subject
Social Sciences, Social Work
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-100176DOI: 10.1080/2156857X.2020.1835696ISI: 001026167700004Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85111159648OAI: oai:DiVA.org:lnu-100176DiVA, id: diva2:1519357
Available from: 2021-01-18 Created: 2021-01-18 Last updated: 2023-08-11Bibliographically approved

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Ulmestig, RickardDenvall, Verner

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