Applying for money The encounter between social workers and clients--A question of morality

Correspondence to Lars-Christer Hydén, Department of Social Work, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden Summary The facts of household finances generally obtain their meaningfrom the moral standards of everyday life: it is in relationto these standards that we evaluate our personal finances. Personswho lack money and apply for social welfare compensation generallyhave to turn to a public social welfare bureau where their eligibilityis assessed by a professional social worker. The central questionfor the present study is how social workers and clients dealwith the morally delicate question of personal financial deficitsand how this question should be processed in a formal and institutionalsetting by formal means. This problem is discussed through ananalysis of conversations between social workers and clientsat social welfare bureaux in the municipality of Stockholm,Sweden. In pursuing a formal inquiry the social worker is conductinga moral search: the social worker has to determine the moralcharacter of the client and the circumstances around his/herhandling of his/her own financial situation. The ‘relevantcharacteristics of the citizen’ that the social workertries to match with the beneficiary rules are of a moral nature.In this respect, the social worker is not only a social workerbut also a moral worker. In order to define and defend his orher moral character the client has to pursue the financial issueas a moral issue. In the encounter, the client alludes to everydaycircumstances to account for his/her financial situation andto justify it by applying everyday moral standards.