Managing fat bodies: Identity regulation between public and private domains

This paper analyzes the relationship between public andprivate domains in contemporary Danish organizationsby examining their increasing focus on the personalhealth situation of employees, and, more specifically,their body weight. This paper combines literature onidentity and management with governmentality-inspiredresearch on risk, morality and the body. The aim of thispaper is to show that overweight people are perceived as“risk identities”, i.e. problem people who automaticallycall for personal management. The author demonstratesthat besides the unintended effect of categorizing overweightemployees as problem people, this managementgoal also run counter to the declared value regardingrespect for diversity in contemporary organizations.Based on in-depth interviews with managers and recordedtalks between health consultants and overweightemployees, this paper emphasizes processes thatsubordinate employees and restrict their autonomy

Vibeke Asmussen & Steffen Jöhncke (red.): Brugerperspektiver. Fra stofmisbrug til socialpolitik?

Anmeldes af Nanna Mik-Meyer &nbsp

Organizational Professionalism: Social Workers Negotiating Tools of NPM

This article examines how social workers and managers perceive meaningful work and expertise in six care and treatment facilities in Denmark. Based on 29 interviews with social workers (n=22) and managers (n=7), the article shows how New Public Management-inspired tools such as scoring schemas align with social work values such as “client-centeredness” and working with the individual welfare recipient face-to-face. The article finds that fitting social work into organizational schemas changes the work practices of social workers and also the way members of this profession define meaningful work and expertise. In addition, the article also finds that scoring schemas cause conflicts among social workers regarding the character of expertise when values of social work (to meet a welfare recipient’s need) must be aligned with NPM-inspired values of organizations (to meet managers’ demand for documentation)

PERSONLIG UDVIKLING – en frigørende proces eller social kontrol i danske revalideringscentre?

Denne artikel stiller skarpt på socialarbejderes mål om at understøtte en personlig udvikling hos klienten. Artiklen forsøger at vise, at dette mål ofte afstedkommer store problemer hos klienten, der for det meste ikke selv beskriver et behov for at udvikle sig personligt. Med afsæt i et symbolsk interaktionistisk perspektiv viser forfatteren, at det typisk er en række eksterne, sociale forhold, der bevirker, at socialarbejdere koncentrerer sin indsats om dette mål. En central pointe i artiklen er således, at den ofte problemfyldte interaktion mellem socialarbejder og klient (som forfatteren udforsker) skal søges forklaret (og forbedret) ved at fokuserer på konteksten for det sociale arbejde. Denne kontekst er – blandt andet – defineret ved den ulige relation, der definerer mødet mellem klient og socialarbejder

Disability, sameness, and equality: able-bodied managers and employees discussing diversity in a Scandinavian context

This article contributes to research examining the work situations of employees with disabilities. This is performed by demonstrating how able-bodied norms affect the work lives of employees with cerebral palsy in Danish work organizations. Thus, this article investigates how able-bodied managers and employees talk about their co-workers with cerebral palsy and examines the narratives of diversity among able-bodied managers and employees when they discuss the work situation of their colleagues with cerebral palsy. The empirical point of departure is 6 weeks of participant observations in 2 work organizations along with interviews conducted in 13 work organizations with 19 managers and 43 colleagues who work with an employee with cerebral palsy on a daily basis. The article finds two dominating narratives regarding diversity that have to do with being either ‘different but the same’ or ‘just different’. These two narratives relate to the highly praised value of equality in Scandinavia

The role of laughter

The topic of social work does not normally inspire laughter. So it is perhaps not surprising that research into the culture of social work rarely pursues its humorous aspect—the role of irony and laughter, for example. But if Michael Mulkay (1988) is right in suggesting that the domain of humor allows contradictory worlds to coexist, then this topic warrants a closer look. After all, no one would deny that social work involves a measure of contradiction

Højrup, Thomas & Klaus Bolving (red.): Velfærdssamfund – velfærdsstaters forsvarsform?

Anmeldes af Nanna Mik-Meyer & Karen Lund Peterse

En undersøgelse af, hvordan handicappede på arbejdsmarkedet ser sig selv og ses af deres ledere og kolleger

Nærværende forskningsprojekt er finansieret af Ludvig og Sara Elsass Fond, der i efteråret 2012 inviterede mig til et møde med henblik på et eventuelt samarbejde. Spastikerforeningen havde rettet henvendelse til fonden for at indgå et samarbejde om et projekt, der skulle vise, hvilke forhold der gjorde sig gældende for mennesker med cerebral parese (fremover CP), der var ansat på det danske arbejdsmarked. De to parter var især interesseret i at få belyst, hvilke erfaringer ledere og kolleger havde i forhold til at arbejde sammen med medarbejdere med CP, da dette var et område, man vidste meget lidt om