<p>The purpose with this study was to examine six caseworkers and two clients’ experiences of interaction in the investigative work of social assistance. Moreover, how the interaction between caseworkers and clients are affected by the structure of the social assistance unit. The study also wanted to show how interaction rituals contribute to the change in assessment procedure in the investigative work. The study even aimed to highlight the ways in which social exclusion occurs in investigative work from caseworkers and client’s capital and gender. Finally, the study intended to look at how caseworkers and client’s positions as superior and subordinate affect the interaction of the investigative work and what roles are shaped during their meeting and how the roles form the interaction. The questions were examined using qualitative methodology in the form of semi-structured interviews. I´ve based the paper on social exclusion processes and applied organizational sociology. The theoretical perspectives used in this thesis work is moreover Ahrne’s organization theory, Collins’s theory of interaction rituals, Goffman’s role theory, Bourdieus’ theory of distinction and capital concept and Mulinari and de los Reyes intersectionality concept. Main conclusions I could draw from the survey results and analysis are that the caseworkers and clients’ experiences tend to resemble each other in many aspects. Overall the caseworkers and clients experience that the interaction is multidimensional; however, the interaction is founded in the authority structure. The interaction is represented by the caseworker’s dominant position, where their overall superior role exists in which the underlying dual roles as helpers and personal authorities also occur. Unlike the caseworkers the clients hold a dominated position, where their overall subordinate role exists in which the underlying dual roles as clients and as individuals occur. This means that the interaction is primarily governed by the caseworkers and client’s freedom of movement is restricted. Clients welfare and their meaningfulness of everyday life including their financial situation are thereby affected by the interaction of the investigative work as a result of the interaction leading toward that the client is justified social assistance or not.</p>

The purpose with this study was to examine six caseworkers and two clients’ experiences of interaction in the investigative work of social assistance. Moreover, how the interaction between caseworkers and clients are affected by the structure of the social assistance unit. The study also wanted to show how interaction rituals contribute to the change in assessment procedure in the investigative work. The study even aimed to highlight the ways in which social exclusion occurs in investigative work from caseworkers and client’s capital and gender. Finally, the study intended to look at how caseworkers and client’s positions as superior and subordinate affect the interaction of the investigative work and what roles are shaped during their meeting and how the roles form the interaction. The questions were examined using qualitative methodology in the form of semi-structured interviews. I´ve based the paper on social exclusion processes and applied organizational sociology. The theoretical perspectives used in this thesis work is moreover Ahrne’s organization theory, Collins’s theory of interaction rituals, Goffman’s role theory, Bourdieus’ theory of distinction and capital concept and Mulinari and de los Reyes intersectionality concept. Main conclusions I could draw from the survey results and analysis are that the caseworkers and clients’ experiences tend to resemble each other in many aspects. Overall the caseworkers and clients experience that the interaction is multidimensional; however, the interaction is founded in the authority structure. The interaction is represented by the caseworker’s dominant position, where their overall superior role exists in which the underlying dual roles as helpers and personal authorities also occur. Unlike the caseworkers the clients hold a dominated position, where their overall subordinate role exists in which the underlying dual roles as clients and as individuals occur. This means that the interaction is primarily governed by the caseworkers and client’s freedom of movement is restricted. Clients welfare and their meaningfulness of everyday life including their financial situation are thereby affected by the interaction of the investigative work as a result of the interaction leading toward that the client is justified social assistance or not.

The aim of this study was to explore how women in social work experience the equality in their workplace, and their experience of an unequal gender distribution. To answer this, a qualitative method was used, and four individual interviews were conducted. At the time of the study all four interviewees worked as social workers in medium sized municipalities in the middle of Sweden. Yvonne Hirdman’s theory on gender systems, Joan Ackers theory on gender regimes and the theory of homo- and heterosociality were used for the analysis. The result of the study showed that the interviewees considered their place of work to be equal between men and women but at the same time described differences between male and female coworkers. It appeared that there were mainly structural factors that seemed undetectable, like norms, values and stereotypes, that contributed to the gender difference and inequality between genders in the workplaces. These structural differences were only detectable when critically examining the concrete experiences the interviewees talked about. In conclusion, there were some structural patterns that contributed to a gender difference and therefor an inequality between genders in the workplaces, at the same time, the interviewees mentioned factors that contributed to gender equality in the workplaces. What this essay illustrated is women’s perspective and concrete experiences of gender differences and gender equality and inequality. / Syftet med denna uppsats var att undersöka hur kvinnor inom socialtjänsten upplever jämställdheten på deras arbetsplats, och deras erfarenheter av en ojämn könsfördelning. För att besvara detta användes kvalitativ metod och fyra individuella intervjuer utfördes. När intervjuerna utfördes så jobbade kvinnorna inom socialtjänsten i medelstora kommuner i mellansverige. Som teoretiskt ramverk har främst både Yvonne Hirdmans teori om genussystem och Joan Ackers teori om genusregim används, men även teorin om homo- och heterosocialitet använts. Resultatet av studien visade att kvinnliga socialsekreterare ansåg arbetsplatsen de jobbade på som jämställd samtidigt som de nämnde de erfarenheter som tydde på skillnader mellan manliga och kvinnliga kollegorna. Det framkom att det främst var strukturella faktorer som verkade osynliga, som normer, värderingar och stereotypa, som bidrog till en könsskillnad och ojämställdhet på arbetsplatserna. Dessa strukturella ojämlikheter blev bara synliga när man kritiskt granskade de konkreta erfarenheter som intervjupersonerna berättade om. Slutsatsen var att det framkom vissa strukturella mönster som bidrog till en könsskillnad och därmed ojämställdhet på arbetsplatserna, samtidigt som intervjupersonerna även nämnde faktorer som bidrar till jämställdhet på arbetsplatserna. Det uppsatsen har belyst är kvinnornas perspektiv och konkreta erfarenheter om könsskillnader, och grad av jämställdhet och ojämställdhet.

The child welfare system has a responsibility to provide healthy environments for children who are removed from the care of their biological families. An important indicator of success in this endeavor is variations in child functioning following admission into foster care. Maltreated children are already at risk for difficulty adjusting to new environments and creating new relationships. This dissertation sought to explore the effect of change during foster care on child functioning. The effects of various types of change on children who were provided with treatment foster care services were evaluated using the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS®) as a measure of child functioning. Results indicated that placement change and foster sibling presence negatively impacted child functioning, but that caseworker contact, foster sibling removal, and caseworker change positively impacted child functioning. Policy and practice implications emphasize the positive impact of single-child foster care placements, reduced volatility within foster child environments and relationships, and increased caseworker contacts. Future research should examine factors that mediate the relationship between systemic volatility within the foster care system and child functioning. / text

適切な生活保護業務を実施するために、現業員とスーパーバイザー(査察指導員)の役割を分析し、福祉事務所におけるスーパービジョンのあり方を探求することを目的としている。査察指導員の専門的機能の強化、現業員数の配置基準の改正、福祉事務所内の業務のシェアリング、スペシャリストとして育成していくためのキャリアパスの確立、査察指導員の役割としてのスーパービジョンを確立するための研修制度の強化を提言した。 / This thesis attempts to analyze the role of caseworkers and supervisors for the public assistance service, and explore the system of supervision in the welfare office. It proposes to strengthen professional functions of supervisors, revise the allocation standard for the number of caseworkers, share work in the welfare office, establish a career path to train a specialist, and strengthen training system to establish supervision as a role of supervisors. / 博士(政策科学) / Doctor of Philosophy in Policy and Management / 同志社大学 / Doshisha University