Syftet med denna uppsats var att undersöka organiseringen av socialarbetares förändringsarbete med unga vuxna som mottar ekonomiskt bistånd, samt vad för hinder och möjligheter socialarbetarna själva upplever att det finns i arbetet. För att undersöka detta valdes en kvalitativ metod i form av intervjuer som genomfördes med sex socialarbetare. En kvalitativ innehållsanalys gjordes på insamlat datamaterial och resultatet analyserades med hjälp av tidigare forskning, organisationsteori samt teori om samverkan. Resultatet visade att organiseringen av arbetet kring målgruppen unga vuxna på ekonomiskt bistånd är en minimal sådan och att socialarbetarnas upplevelse är att de största hindren i förändringsarbetet medmålgruppen är svag samverkan, begränsat handlingsutrymme på gräsrotsnivå men också de unga vuxna själva. Resultatet uppmärksammade socialarbetarnas missnöje med samverkan, både med andra myndigheter och inom hierarkin på den egna myndigheten. Det begränsade handlingsutrymmet var också ett framträdande hinder och socialarbetarna uttryckte frustration över skillnaden i vad de kan erbjuda målgruppen, i relation till vad de ser för behov. Socialarbetarna hänvisade också till målgruppens attityd och motivation som ett stort hinder, speciellt tillsammans med ovannämnt: svag samverkan och begränsat handlingsutrymme. Detta då det framlades att insatser som arbetar med just attityd och motivation är otillräckliga. Avslutningsvis fastslogs det att möjligheter i arbetet med målgruppen ligger främst i bättre samverkan med andra aktörer och inom myndigheten för att kunna erbjuda bättre stöd för de unga vuxna som står längst ifrån arbetsmarknaden. / The purpose of this essay was to examine the organization of social workers’ work with young adults who are recipients of welfare, and what obstacles and possibilities the social workers themselves see in the work. To do this, a qualitative method was chosen, and five social workers were interviewed. A qualitative content analysis was used on the collected data, and the results were analyzed using previous research, organizational theory, and theory of cooperation. The results showed that the organization of work with the target population of young adults who are recipients of welfare is minimal. In addition, the social workers’experience is that the biggest obstacles in their work with the target population is weak cooperation, limited capacity for action at a grassroot level, and the young adults themselves.The results pointed out a discontent amongst the social workers in relation to cooperation, both regarding other agencies as well as within their own agency. The limited capacity for action was also a prominent obstacle, and the social workers expressed frustration over the difference in what they can offer the young adults in proportion to what they see is needed. Moreover, the social workers also noted that the target populations’ attitude and motivation is a huge obstacle, especially along with previously stated hurdles: weak cooperation and limited capacity for action. This is because according to the social workers, the support offered regarding working with attitude and motivation is inadequate. Lastly, the social workers established that the possibilities within this kind of work lies in better cooperation with other agencies and within their own ranks to be able to offer better support to the young adults who are furthest away from the labor market.

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The purpose of this study is to explore how social workers in financial assistance describe their work situation. The aim is also to investigate how social workers in financial assistance describe their discretion and whether there is a relationship between their work situation and discretion. A qualitative method in the form of six semi-structured interviews has been used to obtain relevant empirical data for our study. We interviewed six social workers in the field of financial assistance with different levels of experience. The social workers who participated work either in the financial assistance intake unit or ongoing financial assistance for clients of varying ages who apply for continued financial assistance each month. Our study shows that social workers in financial assistance have different definitions of discretion. The first definition of discretion implies that social workers' discretion is created and adjusted by various factors such as laws, management and supervisors, personal preferences and clients. The second definition describes discretion as a right that comes with working as a social worker on financial assistance and implies that discretion is explored and tested in the work by the social worker himself. Our study also shows that the work situation of a social worker in financial assistance and their discretion influence each other. Greater discretion has a positive effect on the social worker's work situation and limited discretion has the opposite effect. A heavy workload and lack of time, while management and supervisors try to impose constraints on the social worker, have a negative impact on a social worker's discretion. This in turn leads to stress for social workers in financial assistance. The results of the study also show that factors such as experience and room for interpretation of the law increase the discretion, which contributes to a more positive attitude towards social workers’ work situation.

Individuals with a foreign background are particularly financially exposed group in society,who are more likely to receive financial assistance. This study investigates long-term welfarerecipients with a foreign background and their path to self-sufficiency from the perspective ofthe social workers. The study answers two main questions: Firstly, what factors contribute tolong-term acceptance of aid among individuals with a foreign background? Secondly, whatdoes social workers' work look like with long-term welfare recipients with a foreignbackground? The study is based on a qualitative methodological approach, through semi-structured interviews with five social workers from various municipalities within theStockholm area who work within their respective units for financial assistance. The empirical data have been processed with thematic analysis, and the presented results havebeen analyzed with the theoretical frameworks of capital theory and empowerment. Theresults of this study show that both individual- and structural factors can contribute toindividuals with a foreign background getting stuck as long-term welfare recipients. Some ofthe factors are, for example, lack of language skills, low education level, segregation, alimited social network and the demands of the labor market. The results also show that socialworkers' work with long-term welfare recipients who have foreign background is mainlyabout motivational work and finding new individual-strengthening ways to help the clientsbreak their dependence on benefits, where the work can be particularly challenging with thistarget group. In conclusion, this study has contributed to an enhanced understanding of along-term welfare recipients among individuals with a foreign background and how socialworkers work in relation to these clients. / Individer med utländsk bakgrund är en särskilt ekonomiskt utsatt grupp i samhället som istörre utsträckning blir aktuella för att erhålla ekonomiskt bistånd. Syftet med denna studie äratt undersöka långvariga biståndstagare med utländsk bakgrund och deras väg ut till egenförsörjning utifrån socialsekreterarnas perspektiv. Studien besvarar de två framtagnafrågeställningarna; Vilka faktorer bidrar till ett långvarigt biståndstagande hos individer medutländsk bakgrund? och Hur ser socialsekreterarnas arbete ut med långvariga biståndstagarehos individer med utländsk bakgrund? En kvalitativ metod är grunden för empirin i dennastudie genom semistrukurerade intervjuer med fem socialsekreterare som arbetar inomenheten för ekonomiskt bistånd i olika kommuner inom Stockholmsområdet.  Empirin har bearbetats med tematisk analys där det presenterade resultatet sedan haranalyserats med stöd av de två teoretiska utgångspunkterna kapitalteorin och empowerment.Denna studies resultat visar att både individuella och strukturella faktorer kan bidra till attindivider med utländsk bakgrund fastnar i ett långvarigt biståndstagande. Några av defaktorerna är exempelvis bristande språkkunskaper, låg utbildningsnivå, segregation,begränsat socialt nätverk och arbetsmarknadens krav. Dessutom visar resultaten attsocialsekreterarnas arbete med de långvariga biståndstagarna som har utländsk bakgrundfrämst handlar om motiverande arbete och hitta nya individstärkande vägar för att hjälpaklienterna att bryta sitt bidragsberoende, där arbetet kan vara särskilt utmanande med dennamålgrupp. Denna studie har därmed givit ökad kunskap om långvariga biståndstagare blandindivider med utländsk bakgrund och hur socialsekreterare arbetar i relation till dessaklienter.

Men's violence against women is a widely recognized problem that has recently received considerable political and social attention. Previous studies show that one in three women are subjected to violence by a man in a close relationship at some point in their lives, regardless of class, religion and ethnicity. Economic violence is a less recognized form of violence, yet one with serious consequences, both long and short term. This study aims to examine how social workers identify economic violence in their encounters with clients, as well as whether traditional gender roles and conceptions of gender affect the conditions for identifying economic violence. The study consists of ten qualitative semi-structured interviews with social workers in financial assistance. The empirical data revealed that there are several aspects that make it difficult for social workers to identify economic violence. Lack of time affects the conditions for actively working on the issue of economic violence. Similarly, gaps in knowledge about economic violence due to inadequate education, both at university level and in professional life, is something that social workers perceive as a challenge regarding identifying economic abuse. The empirical data also highlights how notions of gender roles can affect social workers' ability to identify economic violence. Norms about the division of responsibilities in the home and subconscious thoughts about gender hierarchies provide space for a normalization process that makes it difficult for the woman and the social worker to detect the violence. Most of the participants admit that they have their own bias about gender, thus making it visible and raising awareness of how these can affect the assessment of what is economic violence or not.

Financial independence (FI) and the FIRE Movement have gained a lot of traction in recent years. Despite the growing popularity of this alternative lifestyle, it is largely absent from the literature with only a few previous studies or investigations found. The goal of this thesis is to see if people use entrepreneurship to help them achieve financial independence. The thesis uses the critical case sampling method and semi-structured qualitative interviews with 11 individuals who are working toward or have already achieved financial independence. The findings show that most of the interviewees rely on waged work as their primary occupation, although most of them supplement their income by engaging in some form of income-generating activities alongside their main occupation, which is known as hybrid entrepreneurship. The interviewees were classified as engaging in full-time entrepreneurship, hybrid entrepreneurship, or no entrepreneurship. The findings showed that the majority of this sample pool was engaged in hybrid entrepreneurship, which implies that the pursuit of FI is either appealing to those already with entrepreneurial tendencies or the pursuit of FI encourages individuals to be more entrepreneurial. Additionally, there are indications that some individuals may use financial independence to reduce risk before embarking on an entrepreneurial journey which aligns with established theory regarding hybrid entrepreneurship. / Ekonomiskt oberoende (FI) och FIRE-rörelsen har fått stor genomslag de senaste åren. Trots den växande populariteten för denna alternativa livsstil är den till stor del frånvarande i litteraturen med endast ett fåtal tidigare studier eller undersökningar hittade. Målet med denna avhandling är att se om människor använder entreprenörskap för att hjälpa dem att uppnå ekonomiskt oberoende. Avhandlingen använder den kritiska fallsurvalmetoden och semistrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer med 11 individer som arbetar mot eller redan har uppnått ekonomiskt oberoende. Resultaten visar att de flesta av de intervjuade förlitar sig på lönearbete som sin primära sysselsättning, även om de flesta av dem kompletterar sin inkomst genom att ägna sig åt någon form av inkomstbringande aktiviteter vid sidan av sin huvudsakliga sysselsättning, som kallas hybridföretagande. Intervjupersonerna klassificerades som engagerade i heltidsföretagande, hybridföretagande eller inget företagande. Resultaten visade att majoriteten av denna urvalspool var engagerad i hybridföretagande, vilket innebär att strävan efter FI antingen tilltalar dem som redan har entreprenöriella tendenser eller att strävan efter FI uppmuntrar individer att bli mer entreprenöriella. Dessutom finns det indikationer på att vissa individer kan använda ekonomiskt oberoende för att minska risken innan de ger sig ut på en entreprenöriell resa som ligger i linje med etablerad teori om hybridföretagande.

Financial assistance from social services can be described as an important protection against financial vulnerability. Many of the people that seek out to get support in the form of financial aid are vulnerable people that are in need of an income. The purpose of this study is to explore the organizational conditions that caseworkers in financial assistance perceive as significant for their work with clients. We’ve performed semi-structured interviews with seven caseworkers that work in the department of financial assistance to gather in-depth insights into their experiences and perspectives about the organizational conditions. Using Lipsky's theory of street-level bureaucracy to analyze our results, we also connected our findings to previous research in the field. The findings reveal that control, demands and information are critical organizational factors that have a significant importance for their client work. Caseworkers experience that organizational conditions complicate client interactions, worsen relationships, and limit discretion. Caseworkers also desire more understanding, trust, clearer information, and reduced workloads. Previous research highlights the importance of balancing organizational demands with client needs, emphasizing the need for supportive policies and effective communication to enhance social work practice. Future research could explore implementing new approaches suggested by caseworkers to see how these changes would impact their work and improve the quality of financial assistance. Furthermore, future research could also investigate the perspectives of the organization to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the subject.

Bidragsbrott har på senare tid uppmärksammats som ett sätt för kriminella att finansiera den organiserade brottsligheten. Tidigare forskning har främst fokuserat på bidragsbrott mot myndigheter och det finns en kunskapslucka gällande kommunernas arbete mot bidragsbrott. Med en kvalitativ ansats undersöker denna studie bidragsbrott mot kommuner både övergripande utifrån ett nationellt perspektiv men även djupare på lokal nivå i Malmö och Helsingborgs stad. Studien syftar till att ta reda på hur arbetet för att motverka bidragsbrott upplevs samt vilken typ av samverkan som finns inom arbetet. Materialet består av semistrukturerade intervjuer med aktörer som besitter särskild kunskap om ämnet. Resultatet visade att det finns stora skillnader i hur långt olika kommuner har kommit i sitt arbete mot bidragsbrott. Vidare tyder resultatet på att det i en lokal kontext i Malmö och Helsingborgs stad finns en fungerande samverkan, men att samverkan på nationell nivå är problematiskt på grund av sekretesslagstiftning som hindrar informationsspridning mellan aktörer. Studien fann även att bidragsbrott inte är prioriterat hos polisen och att det inom myndigheten finns en kunskapsbrist gällande brottet, vilket skapar frustration hos kommunerna. Med hjälp av samverkansteori och contemporary criminology förklaras brister i samverkan och svårigheter kopplat till att bidragsbrott är ett relativt nytt fenomen. / Benefit fraud has recently attracted attention for being a way for criminals to finance organized crimes. Previous research has mainly focused on benefit fraud against authorities and there is lack of knowledge regarding benefit fraud against municipalities. A qualitative study was utilized to examine benefit fraud against municipalities in a national context as well as in a local context in the cities of Malmö and Helsingborg. The study aims to investigate how the work is experienced and what type of cooperation that exists in the work against benefit fraud. The research consists of semi-structured interviews with people who have special knowledge on the subject. The results highlighted differences in how far different municipalities have come in their work against benefit fraud. Further, it was found that the cooperations are working well in a local context in the municipalities of Malmö and Helsingborg, but the cooperation in a national context is problematic due to difficulties sharing information. The study also showed that there is a lack of priority and knowledge regarding benefit fraud amongst the police, which creates a frustration from the municipalities. Cooperation theory and contemporary criminology are used to explain shortcomings regarding cooperation as well as difficulties concerning the fact that benefit fraud is a relatively new phenomenon.

This qualitative study aims to analyze how social workers who work with social assistance view young adults who are unemployed and receiving financial support, as well as how the social workers describe their work with this target group. This was examined through interviews with six different social workers. The interview material was analyzed using Van Oorschot and Halman's (2000) analytical framework on explanations for poverty. The analytical framework addressed two dimensions in the form of social and individual, as well as blame and fate. Based on these dimensions, following explanatory models were created: individual blame, individual fate, social blame and social fate. The results show that all four explanatory models appear in the social workers' reasoning about the target group although, some models occured more frequently. In the social workers' reasoning about how they described the target group, a pattern of the social dimension and especially social blame emerged, while the reasoning about how the social workers work with the target group showed the individual dimension with a focus on individual blame. The conclusion is that the social workers view young adults who are unemployed and receiving social assistance differently from how they work with the target group.

<p>The purpose of this study was to investigate a group of teenage girls and their relation to clothes by using the theories about habitus and different types of capital by the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. We have used semiotics since we also wanted to know what clothes symbolized for our respondents. The questions were therefore:</p><p>1. How is a group of teenage girls who go to school in Stockholm city influenced by their habitus and symbolical capital in their attitude and relation to clothes?</p><p>2. What do the clothes symbolize for these girls?</p><p>We have interviewed four sixteen year old girls who all study at a high school in Stockholm city. Our conclusion is that each girls habitus and different assets of capitals have an influence on her attitude and relation to clothes. For our respondents the clothes symbolized status, economical capital and to look attractive to others.</p> / <p>Avsikten med denna uppsats var att undersöka en grupp tonårstjejer och deras relation till kläder utifrån den franske sociologen Pierre Bourdieus teorier om habitus och olika former av kapital. Vi har också använt oss utav semiotiken då vi även ville veta vad kläder symboliserar för våra respondenter. Våra frågeställningar blev därför:</p><p>1. Hur influeras en grupp tonårstjejer som går i skolan i Stockholm av sitt habitus och symboliska kapital när det gäller deras inställning och relation till kläder?</p><p>2. Vad symboliserar kläder för dessa tjejer?</p><p>För att besvara dessa frågor har vi intervjuat fyra sextonåriga tjejer som alla studerar vid ett gymnasium i Stockholms innerstad. Vår slutsats är att det habitus och olika tillgångar av kapital hos respektive tjej vi intervjuade påverkade hennes klädbruk. Kläderna symboliserade status, ekonomiskt kapital och att se attraktiv ut inför andra.</p>