Making sense of common sense: examining the decision‐making of politically appointed representatives in Swedish child protection

A distinguishing feature of Swedish child protection is the direct and indirect influence on decision‐making in individual cases by representatives appointed by their elected political parties. As members of local committees, they take the most interventionist and costly decisions themselves, informed by care proposals submitted by professional social workers. Other decisions are delegated to professional social workers. In direct decision‐making, they are supposed to act as laypersons using their own judgement and experience, not as politicians. The aim of this paper is to describe and analyse these committees, their role and responsibilities, and possible influence of politics on child protection. A mixed method was used, with a survey sent to 467 representatives, structured interviews with 99 secretaries of local committees and data drawn from national statistics. The Swedish model is discussed as a hybrid system influenced not only by professional, bureaucratic, political and market governance logics but also by laypersons. One conclusion is that although child protection is directly influenced by politics, the reverse is also true. By exposing politicians to the difficult life circumstances and societal shortcomings experienced by vulnerable children, the system can, in turn, have an impact on politics at the municipal level.     

Being part of an enacted togetherness: Narratives of elderly people with depression

In this article, we explored how five elderly persons with depression engaged in everyday activities with others, over time, and how this was related to their experience of meaning. Repeated interviews and participant observations generated data that was analysed using a narrative approach. Analysis identified togetherness as an acted relation, "enacted togetherness", emphasising how the act of doing everyday activities with someone created togetherness and belonging, and being part of an enacted togetherness seemed to be a way for the participants to negotiate and construct meaning. Opportunities for doing things together with someone were closely associated to the place where the participants lived. Furthermore, engagement in activities together with others created hope and expectations of future acting. Findings from this research can extend our understanding of how participating in everyday activities is experienced as a social process including change over time, presenting the perspective of elderly people themselves. In light of these findings, we highlight the need to consider how opportunities to become part of an enacted togetherness can be created. Also, we aspire to contribute to the debate on how to understand the complexity related to social aspects of ageing and add to the emerging understanding of everyday activities as transactional, incorporating people and the environment in a dynamic process that goes beyond the individual.     

Supervision reviewed: reflections on two different social work models in England and Sweden

This article draws on the findings of two independent research projects on supervision: one based in England and the second in Sweden. The findings cited illustrate predominantly the perspectives on supervision held by social workers and managers in the statutory services. In the process of contextualising, theorising and pulling together the threads from their respective findings, the authors reflect on the fabric and models of supervision in the two countries. The opportunities and disadvantages of the two contrasting models in current practice are discussed. This includes the steps that could be taken in either country to improve the quality of supervision within learning organisations.     

Countermeasure drowsiness by design - using common behaviour

This study takes a starting point in what drivers do to avoid drowsiness while driving instead of starting with what researchers know is efficient (Take a short nap). It is concluded that research is missing when it comes to how efficient common behavior countermeasures are and that there is a mismatch between research and how people actually behave. A three stage approach which includes identification, information and countermeasure is suggested. Furthermore are a few ideas of what car manufacturers can do to support human behavior presented.     

ROBUST METHODS APPLIED TO ENERGY-CONSUMPTION DATA

In many instances a model is based on nonexperimental data and is used for prediction. In this situation, using both the least-squares and the robust methods simultaneously can result in models with improved predictive performance.     

The nation’s body: disability and deviance in the writings of Adolf Hitler

This article takes its starting point in the Nazi ideology as it appears in the writings of Adolf Hitler, and discusses how disability and the body can be understood in the context of Mein Kampf. The article underlines how disability and bodily infirmities, alongside race, featured significantly in Hitler’s demagogic message. Although the overall image of disability was related to a sense of threat – and a culture gone wrong – Mein Kampf also contains a mixed interpretation of disability as a phenomenon, in which different and opposing disability narratives took part in the construction and the image of the body as a national property.     

The flight from universalism

Up to the beginning of the 1990s Sweden had been considered a paragon welfare state in its realisation of universalist principles and an institutional welfare model. This seems to be changing rapidly. Mass unemployment, welfare expenditure cuts and institutional transformation have introduced several selective mechanisms into the Swedish welfare system, adding up to a retreat from universalism. New forms of selectivity can be seen in all layers of the welfare system, both transfer benefits and social security, public personal social services and the relation between state and voluntary organisations. The shifting of burdens from universal social security and insurance-based welfare onto local means tested systems has already meant a restigmatisation of unemployment, as the unemployed lose eligibility for the insurance-based systems, and an increase in the proportion of people who have to rely on poor relief instead of rights-based welfare, and when unemployment has gone up, so have work requirements for benefits. A rising proportion of labour market programmes are now municipally organised obligations instead of state administered rights. Conditioning the right to day care, appraising needs-tested services for the elderly, like home help and care, make personal social services change in the same directions. This may endanger the classical alliance between women and the welfare state.