<p>Denna studie syftar till att granska variationer i bedömningar och beslut om ekonomiskt bistånd utifrån vilken betydelse den enskilda organisationens riktlinjer har för dessa. Utifrån syftet, och med stöd av tidigare forskning på området, valdes vinjettstudien som metod. Ett identiskt typfall, gällande en fiktiv ansökan om ekonomiskt bistånd, skickades ut till samtliga kommuner i Västra Götalands län, med undantag för Göteborgs kommun. Vinjetten riktades till socialsekreterare som i sin vardag arbetar med handläggning av ekonomiskt bistånd och totalt erhölls svar från 16 olika kommuner. Resultatet påvisar stora skillnader i både bedömningar och beslut mellan de olika kommunerna vilket verifierar de tidigare studier som gjorts. Trots att samtliga kommuner finner stöd för sina motiveringar i lag och allmänna råd framgår det av resultatet att dessa har tolkats på olika sätt. Eftersom respondenterna ombads att motivera sina bedömningar och beslut utifrån kommunens lokala riktlinjer och direktiv tros dessa också ligga till grund för de variationer som uppstått. Detta gör att den kommunala självstyrelsen kan problematiseras ur ett rättssäkerhetsperspektiv. En diskussion förs om huruvida en ökad detaljstyrning skulle kunna bidra till en ökad rättsäkerhet, men också vilka konsekvenser en sådan rättslig reglering skulle kunna innebära för det sociala arbetet som profession.</p> / <p>This study aims to examine variations in assessments and decisions on financial assistance based on the significance of the local guidelines for these. According to the purpose, and with support by previous research in the field, a vignette study was chosen as a method. An identical scenario, reflecting an application for financial assistance, was sent to all municipalities in Västra Götaland County, with the exception of the municipality of Gothenburg. The vignette was addressed to social workers who are working daily with processing of economic assistance. Totaly was responses from 16 different municipalities received. The results demonstrate significant differences in both assessments and decisions between the various municipalities, which verifies the previous studies performed. Despite the fact that all the municipalities found support for their justification in law and general guidance, it appear in the results that they have been interpreted in different ways. Since the respondents were asked to base their judgments and decisions on the local guidelines, it is believed that these also form the basis of the variations encountered. Because of the big variations between municipalities a problematisation of the legal security can be made. A final discussion is made about wether an increased legal regulation could contribute to a greater legal security, but also what implications of such a regulation could mean for the social work as a profession.</p>

The purpose of the study is to explore how social workers work with youths that seek financial assistance and what importance gender plays in this process. The participants were six female social workers that work with financial assistance. They were interviewed and had to reflect over a case, where the client where either male or female. The results was analyzed and compared in relation to social constructive theory and gender theory. The study shows that social workers work in two parallel processes, when they decide about financial assistance and other help benefits, the formal and the intuitive. In the formal process the social workers don’t give gender any importance in how they reflect about their work and the clients. In the same time way they think differently about male or female clients in a more intuitive manner. The differences that are done can be related to gender stereotypes. The male client is thought of being responsible and active and the female client is viewed as a passive victim. These ideas creates different practices against men and women, where the female would be given psychological aid and the male would be given work related support. These practices reproduces traditional conceptions of both sexes and can therefore create different possibilities for young men and women that contact the social welfare system for financial assistance.

This study is about conception in the evaluation of financial assistance within the social services. The aim of this study is to describe and understand how social workers reason about variation, conception and local norms and its significance in the evaluation process. To reach this purpose we have conducted semi-structured interviews with eight social workers in which different themes were discussed and reasoned about. In order to understand and analyze our results we have studied/used the knowledge about tacit knowledge and street-level bureaucracy. Our results showed, as previous research states, that social workers do have conceptions about clients. Beyond that it also showed that they were well aware of the presence of the conception and that it is consistently processed with the help of colleagues. In addition to the help of colleagues the use of self-reflection was valuable to increase the awareness about conception. Furthermore the study showed that social workers believe that the conceptions are established through ones qualities and experiences. Social workers also suggest that these two variables contribute to their gut feeling, which they mean to be inevitable in the evaluation process. The study concluded that there is an ongoing reasoning about conception in the evaluation process of financial assistance among social workers and that social workers found it to be important to continuously discuss and deal with this issue.

The purpose of this study was to examine participants' experiences and descriptions of a municipal activation program, and how participants perceive their opportunities for influence on their own needs and requirements. The results are based on statements from six semi-structured, individual interviews conducted by the qualitative method. Empowerment, paternalism and social capital are among the study's theoretical frame of reference. The main results show that more participants are critical of aspects of coercion and involuntary willingness in participation. Motivation for participation seems to mainly be linked to whether the activity is experienced as meaningful, as well as to the attitude of the staff. An individual, affirmative response from the staff seems to be of concern to the participants' general experience of the program. The contact with other participants interpreted from theory of social capital and collective empowerment.

Les bourses d'enseignement supérieur constituent un dispositif clef de la politique d'enseignement en France. L'objectif de ces bourses est d'assurer l'égalité d'accès aux différentes formations de l'enseignement supérieur. Ces bourses se répartissent en plusieurs types et couvrent près de 38 % de la population étudiante. Elles sont essentiellement attribuées en fonction de la situation socio-économique de l'étudiant et de sa famille. Le budget des bourses de l'enseignement supérieur s'élève à environ 1,8 milliards d'euros en 2011 et s'inscrit dans un budget de l'État pour l'action sociale en faveur des étudiants de plus de 5.4 milliards d'euros. Cette recherche se propose d'analyser le système de bourses d'enseignement supérieur basées sur des critères sociaux en France, à travers une étude approfondie de la population des étudiants ayant déposé une demande de bourse entre 1999 et 2009. Dans un contexte européen tourné vers l'économie de la connaissance, dans un contexte national donnant la priorité à l'enseignement supérieur, et suite à la mise en place d'une importante réforme des bourses en 2008, ce travail de recherche analyse le fonctionnement du système des bourses et son évolution au cours des quinze dernières années. Cette recherche apporte une nouvelle approche de l'évaluation de la décision d'attribution de bourse. Elle analyse en détail les modifications survenues suite à la mise en œuvre de la réforme de 2008 et étudie leurs impacts sur la prise de décision et sur la population des boursiers. Elle propose, enfin, un cadre de pilotage de la politique des bourses en se basant sur un ensemble d'indicateurs construits dans le cadre de cette recherche. / Higher education grants constitute a key provision of the education policy in France intended to ensure equal student access to various fields in higher education. These scholarships are divided into several types, cover about 38 % of the student population enrolled in higher education, and are mainly allocated according to the socio-economic situation of the student and the student family. In 2011, the state budget for social action for students was more than 5.4 billion Euros, with approximately 1.8 billion Euros in funding directed to scholarships in higher education. Among the various funding components, financial aid has witnessed the most increase in its share in recent years. This research aims to analyze the system of higher education grants in France based on social criteria, through a detailed study of the population of students who applied for a grant between 1999 and 2009. With the European context moving towards the 'economy of knowledge', with the national context giving priority to higher education, and following the establishment of a fundamental reform of the higher education grants system in Fa1l2008. This research analyzes the evolution of the funding granting policy since 1999 vis-a-vis the stated objectives. The work introduces a new approach for evaluating the decision of granting a scholarship. It analyzes in detail the changes that occurred after the implementation of the 2008 reform and examines their impact on the above decision making, and on the population of students receiving a scholarship. Finally, it offers a framework to steer the granting mechanism based on a set of indicators constructed in the context of this research.

This study involves a survey of the writers’ opinions on the internet forum Flashback about the national norms coverage. The study also contains the internet forum writers proposed action strategies for supply when living on the national norm. Thereby this study is aiming to visualize the living situation when living on the national standards. Previous research shows how the national norm does not seem to live up to a reasonable standard of living as well as the national norm has not evolved with changes in society.  Further the previous research shows how difficult it can be to live on a narrow economy which connects to one of the study’s questions about coping strategies. There are shortcomings in previous research on the study’s topic since previous research focuses little on people’s opinions. Accordingly the authors’ whishes to highlight the writers’ opinions on the internet forum Flashback through a quantitative study content analysis. This study has chosen to analyze the data and the results using Bourdieu´s theories about the social room, field, habitus and the forms of capital. These theories are intended to be useful in interpreting the study’s results. The result shows that the writers believe that the national norm is to narrow and does not fulfill all the needs entries. Despite this result the writers believe it is possible to achieve a reasonable standard of living when living on welfare benefits. These results can be contradictory and therefore interesting which is why the authors question how these views emerged. The contradictory results create an additional finding which is that the writers on the internet forum may not have understood how it is meant to live on the national norm.

Denna studie syftar till att granska variationer i bedömningar och beslut om ekonomiskt bistånd utifrån vilken betydelse den enskilda organisationens riktlinjer har för dessa. Utifrån syftet, och med stöd av tidigare forskning på området, valdes vinjettstudien som metod. Ett identiskt typfall, gällande en fiktiv ansökan om ekonomiskt bistånd, skickades ut till samtliga kommuner i Västra Götalands län, med undantag för Göteborgs kommun. Vinjetten riktades till socialsekreterare som i sin vardag arbetar med handläggning av ekonomiskt bistånd och totalt erhölls svar från 16 olika kommuner. Resultatet påvisar stora skillnader i både bedömningar och beslut mellan de olika kommunerna vilket verifierar de tidigare studier som gjorts. Trots att samtliga kommuner finner stöd för sina motiveringar i lag och allmänna råd framgår det av resultatet att dessa har tolkats på olika sätt. Eftersom respondenterna ombads att motivera sina bedömningar och beslut utifrån kommunens lokala riktlinjer och direktiv tros dessa också ligga till grund för de variationer som uppstått. Detta gör att den kommunala självstyrelsen kan problematiseras ur ett rättssäkerhetsperspektiv. En diskussion förs om huruvida en ökad detaljstyrning skulle kunna bidra till en ökad rättsäkerhet, men också vilka konsekvenser en sådan rättslig reglering skulle kunna innebära för det sociala arbetet som profession. / This study aims to examine variations in assessments and decisions on financial assistance based on the significance of the local guidelines for these. According to the purpose, and with support by previous research in the field, a vignette study was chosen as a method. An identical scenario, reflecting an application for financial assistance, was sent to all municipalities in Västra Götaland County, with the exception of the municipality of Gothenburg. The vignette was addressed to social workers who are working daily with processing of economic assistance. Totaly was responses from 16 different municipalities received. The results demonstrate significant differences in both assessments and decisions between the various municipalities, which verifies the previous studies performed. Despite the fact that all the municipalities found support for their justification in law and general guidance, it appear in the results that they have been interpreted in different ways. Since the respondents were asked to base their judgments and decisions on the local guidelines, it is believed that these also form the basis of the variations encountered. Because of the big variations between municipalities a problematisation of the legal security can be made. A final discussion is made about wether an increased legal regulation could contribute to a greater legal security, but also what implications of such a regulation could mean for the social work as a profession.

Abstract This paper is a peer-review about social workers´ experiences and descriptions of making individual assessments of their unemployed clients when working toward self-sufficiency and eventual obstacle for making them. The paper also deals with how social workers prioritize their work tasks. The study was conducted through interviews with five social workers at the same workplace. The results have been analyzed using theories of discretion, street-level bureaucrats and client dimensions within a street-level bureaucracy. The result shows that lack of time and limitation of discretion have negative influences in the social workers’ ability to make individual assessments. The result also shows that individual assessments are foremost made when the clients mismanage their planning and are risking not getting their application for financial assistance approved. Further the results show that the processing of applications and payment of financial assistance is a priority task since it is considered to be most important to clients and result in the greatest consequences for both social workers and clients if not performed. The discussion that follows is about the possible consequences of prioritizing work tasks this way. / Sammanfattning Denna uppsats är en kollegiegranskning och handlar om socialsekreterares upplevelser och erfarenheter av att göra individuella bedömningar av sina arbetslösa klienter i arbetet mot självförsörjning och eventuella hinder för dessa. Uppsatsen beskriver även om hur socialsekreterare prioriterar sina arbetsuppgifter. Studien har genomförts genom intervjuer med 5 socialsekreterare på en arbetsplats. Resultatet har analyserats utifrån teorier om handlingsutrymme, frontlinjebyråkrater och klientdimensioner inom en frontlinjebyråkrati. Resultatet visar att tidsbrist och begränsningar i handlingsutrymmet båda är faktorer som har en negativ påverkan på en socialsekreterares förutsättningar att göra individuella bedömningar. Resultatet visar även att individuella bedömningar främst görs när en klient misskött sin planering och riskerar avslag på sin ansökan om ekonomiskt bistånd. Vidare visar resultatet att handläggning av ansökningar om och utbetalning av ekonomiskt bistånd är en prioriterad arbetsuppgift då den anses vara viktigast för klienterna samt resulterar i störst konsekvenser för både socialsekreterare och klienter om den inte utförs.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka socialsekreterares erfarenheter av att neka ekonomiskt bistånd. Tre frågeställningar formulerades: Hur påverkas socialsekreterare känslomässigt av att neka ekonomiskt bistånd? Hur upplever socialsekreterarna att klienterna reagerar i samband med ett avslag? Finns det andra faktorer som påverkar socialsekreterarnas erfarenheter av att ge avslag? Fem intervjuer genomfördes med socialsekreterare på fyra olika kommuner i Skåne. Resultatet visade att ett avslagsbeslut inte påverkade socialsekreteraren negativt i någon större utsträckning. Även om majoriteten av informanterna uttryckte att det ibland kunde kännas jobbigt att ge ett avslag fanns det coping- strategier och arbetssätt som underlättade i arbetet med avslag. En känsla av sammanhang (KASAM) kunde identifieras som en underlättande faktor. Klienterna kunde ibland bli arga och inte förstå beslutet men de kunde också bli mer motiverade. Faktorer som ramlag, kollegor och yrkeskunskap spelade stor i arbetet. Att ha en tydligt distans till klienten, tilltro till klientens förmåga att förändra sin situation och att det är individen som har ansvar för sin situation underlättade i arbetet med avslag. Ett avslag kan således betyda mer än bara ett ”nej, du har inte rätt till bistånd.” / The aim of this study was to look into social workers experiences on rejecting financial assistance. Three questions were to be answered: In what way are the social workers emotionally affected by rejecting financial assistance? How do the social workers experience the clients reactions when getting a rejection on financial assistance? Are there any other factors affecting the social workers experiences on rejecting financial assistance? Five interviews were conducted with social workers from five different municipalities in Skåne, Sweden. The result showed that rejecting financial assistance did not affect the social workers negatively in a significant manor. Even though the majority of the informants sometimes expressed some level of awkwardness while rejecting finical assistance, there were coping strategies and methods that favored the rejection process. Clients could sometimes become angry, not understanding why the application was rejected but they could also become more motivated. Factors like framework, colleagues and knowledge of the profession played a big part in the daily work. A sense of coherence was also found to be a stress relieving factor. The rejection process was made easier by having a clear emotional distance to the client, a faith in the clients own abilities to change hir situation and also knowing that it is the individual that has full responsibility of hir situation. A rejection can therefore be viewed as something more than just ”no, you’re not entitled the right to receive financial assistance.”

Economic violence is a relatively unexplored societal problem even though it often occurs in intimate relationships. In accordance with Swedish legislation different municipalities have the power to freely adjust support based on conditions and needs at a local level. The duty and responsibility of the Swedish social services is to promote people's economic and social security, and thereby contribute to active participation in society.  Therefore, our aim with this study is to understand how the Swedish social services are paying attention to and handling women who have been subjected to men's financial violence in close relationships and have applied for financial assistance. The study is based on 6 semi-structured interviews in three different-sized municipalities with social workers that work within financial assistance. Our study has shown similarities and differences between the municipalities and the individual social workers. All the social workers found economic violence to be invisible. Our study also showed that the social workers room for maneuvering was perceived differently and was in fact also different in terms of several factors. Further the study shows the need to reflect upon gender. All social workers were aware of gender norms and discussed who in the relationship, between a man and a woman, would retain the financial assistance. To a small extent the social workers were even part of maintaining traditional gender norms by giving the financial assistance to the man.