‘Everyday bordering’ in England, Sweden and Bulgaria: Social work decision-making processes when working with migrant family members

The global movement of people is a growing feature of contemporary life, and it is essential that professionals providing support services know how to best engage with migrant families. However, despite globalisation and the related processes of de-bordering, borders continue to remain significant and, in contemporary life, the ways in which immigration is controlled and surveilled—bureaucratically and symbolically—are multiple. The paper draws on data gathered in the immediate period following the so called 2015 European ‘migration crisis’ and examines whether and in what ways social workers in three European countries—Bulgaria, Sweden and England—enact bordering in their work with migrant family members. We apply the concept of ‘everyday bordering’ to the data set: whilst borders are traditionally physical and at the boundary between nation states, bordering practices increasingly permeate everyday life in bureaucratic and symbolic forms. Overall, the data show that everyday bordering affects social work practice in three ways: by social workers being required to engage in bordering as an everyday practice; by producing conditions that require social workers to negotiate borders; and in revealing aspects of symbolic everyday bordering. Our analyses shows that ‘everyday bordering’ practices are present in social work decision-making processes in each country, but the forms they take vary across contexts. Analysis also indicates that, in each country, social workers recognise the ways in which immigration control can impact on the families with whom they work but that they can also inadvertently contribute to the ‘othering’ of migrant populations

Servants of a 'sinking Titanic' or actors of change? : contested identities of social workers in Sweden

Historically, social workers have been an integral part of a well-developed welfare state in Sweden. However, due to the neoliberal changes, which have seen the weakening of the support system for vulnerable groups and individuals, the traditional ‘solidary role’ of social workers has rapidly altered. This has created uncertainty and dilemmas for the identification of many social workers, who still perceive themselves as promoters of ‘welfare of the people’. This article dwells, therefore, on neoliberal transformations and the changing professional identity of practitioners. The study is based on a comprehensive empirical work of interviews with social workers. The results show a growing and widespread unease with new professional roles and functions of social workers as bureaucrats within a neoliberalised organisation of public social work. Some social workers still try to find creative and new ways of working in solidarity, while others, although critical, see adjustment to the new organisational frames as a way to continue their work. It is argued that social workers are not passive actors in the process of neoliberalisation of public social work in Sweden but could actively take different stances and choose their own identifications, in order to maintain the solidary role of social workers.Historiskt sett har svenska socialarbetare varit en integrerad del av en välutvecklad välfärdsstat. Men på grund av de nyliberala förändringar som har inneburit en försvagning av välfärdsstaten och dess stödsystem för utsatta grupper och individer, har socialarbetares traditionella ‘solidariska roll’ snabbt förändrats. Detta har skapat rollkonflikter och flera dilemman för många socialarbetare som fortfarande uppfattar och identifierar sig som en profession som främjar välfärd och solidaritet. Föreliggande artikel ämnar att undersöka hur de senaste decenniernas nyliberala förändringar har påverkat socialarbetares professionella identitet i Sverige. Studien bygger på ett omfattande empiriskt material bestående av intervjuer med socialarbetare verksamma inom den kommunala sektorn. Studiens resultat visar på en växande och utbredd oro hos socialarbetare för deras nya professionella roller och funktioner som byråkrater i en nyliberaliserad organisation i offentligt socialt arbete snarare än välfärdsagenter. Resultatet visar också att socialarbetarna reagerar på olika sätt mot sina nya nyliberala professionella roller och funktioner. En del försöker hitta kreativa och nya sätt att arbeta i solidaritet, medans andra, kritiska attityder tilltrots, ser en anpassning till nya organisatoriska ramar som ett sätt att fortsätta sitt jobb. Artikelförfattaren menar att socialarbetare inte behöver vara passiva aktörer i nyliberaliseringsprocessen av det offentliga socialt arbetet i Sverige, utan kan vara aktiva aktörer i att motverka nyliberala förändringarna inom professionen och inta solidariska arbetssätt och identiteter