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Eriksson, E., Fredriksson, A. & Syssner, J. (2022). Opening the black box of participatory planning: A study of how planners handle citizens’ input. European Planning Studies, 30(6), 994-1012
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Opening the black box of participatory planning: A study of how planners handle citizens’ input
2022 (English)In: European Planning Studies, ISSN 0965-4313, E-ISSN 1469-5944, Vol. 30, no 6, p. 994-1012Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Citizen dialogues and other participatory practices are basically the norm in contemporary spatial planning. Nonetheless, what happens to citizen input after it has been collected – how it is handled and utilized by planners in the continuation of the planning process – has been described as a ‘black box’, where most stakeholders lack insight. The aim of this explorative study is to open this black box and examine how citizen input is handled by local planning professionals. This practice lacks a common language and form among the studied municipalities, but the analysis reveals that it takes the form of a ‘sorting process’ in which input is categorized, evaluated and structured in preparation for its integration into final plans. The paper outlines the basic logics and considerations that guide this sorting process, and distinguishes between two modes, which have been termed ‘inclusive’ and ‘selective’ sorting. These modes determine how input is categorized and assessed. The analysis indicates that multiple micro-decisions are made throughout the sorting process, and that these decisions influence the input that reaches formal decision-making bodies, and in what form. The results reveal the power exercised by municipal planning actors and how they affect the destiny of the received citizen input.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Taylor & Francis, 2022
Keywords
Spatial planning; participatory planning; planning process; sorting practice; Sweden
National Category
Social Sciences Human Geography
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-173796 (URN)10.1080/09654313.2021.1895974 (DOI)000625677900001 ()
Funder
Interreg Central Baltic, CB627
Note

Funding: Interreg

Available from: 2021-03-08 Created: 2021-03-08 Last updated: 2022-10-07Bibliographically approved
Eriksson, E. & Johansson, K. (2022). Street-level bureaucrat in the introduction programme: Client-centred and authority-centred strategies to handle challenging working conditions. Nordic Social Work Research, 12(5), 698-715
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Street-level bureaucrat in the introduction programme: Client-centred and authority-centred strategies to handle challenging working conditions
2022 (English)In: Nordic Social Work Research, ISSN 2156-857X, E-ISSN 2156-8588, Vol. 12, no 5, p. 698-715Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Departing from the theory of street-level bureaucracy, this article usesa qualitative approach to examine employment officers’ perceptions of workingin the Swedish introduction programme for newly arrived migrants. Theprogramme is managed by the Swedish Public Employment Service, and theaim of the study is to illuminate how street-level bureaucrats perceive theprerequisites of implementing integration policy within the introductionprogramme, and how they respond to these prerequisites. The study showsthat the interviewees perceive the working conditions as difficult, characterizedby a pronounced tension between organizational demands andmigrants’ needs. To manage this dilemma, the street-level bureaucratsapply several coping strategies, and we highlight two broad patterns ofpractice. Within the client-centred pattern, attempts were made to use discretionto assist the participants in accordance with their needs. Within theauthority-centred pattern, the street-level bureaucrats applied a formal andrule-oriented understanding of their assignment, concentrating their effortson maintaining the functionality of the introduction programme. The mostimportant implication of the study is that it reveals a mismatch between thepolitically formulated integration policy and the actual needs of the migrants,as perceived by the interviewees. The current integration policy is heavilyinfluenced by a workfare logic, causing the introduction programme to befocussed on providing support connected to labour-market matching.However the programme lacks adequate structures to support its participantsto handle e.g. practical, health-related and psychosocial issues that wouldindirectly facilitate labour-market participation. Thus, this study encouragespoliticians and policymakers to formulate a more holistic integration policy.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Routledge, 2022
Keywords
Street-level bureaucrats; coping strategies; integration; introduction programme; integration policy
National Category
Social Work
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-173795 (URN)10.1080/2156857X.2020.1869063 (DOI)001026169800007 ()
Available from: 2021-03-08 Created: 2021-03-08 Last updated: 2023-09-01Bibliographically approved
Eriksson, E. (2020). The naked truth about migrants’ views: User involvement as radical knowledge production. Nordic Social Work Research, 10(4), 302-316
Open this publication in new window or tab >>The naked truth about migrants’ views: User involvement as radical knowledge production
2020 (English)In: Nordic Social Work Research, ISSN 2156-857X, E-ISSN 2156-8588, Vol. 10, no 4, p. 302-316Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

This ethnographic case study examines how knowledge was produced in collaboration between a welfare organization and its target group. The study investigated the Swedish Public Employment Service (PES), which is responsible for the integration of newly arrived migrants through the ‘introduction programme’. To explore how migrants perceived its services, the PES initiated a six-month project in which three employee-researchers and four participant-researchers (migrants participating in the introduction programme) conducted an interview study together. I followed the project as an independent researcher, making observations and conducting interviews with the members of the research group on several occasions.

The study shows the participant-researchers were enabled to obtain quite extensive control over the project. The study also suggests that organizational leadership on practical and methodological matters does not necessarily conflict with the user perspective of the study. The project produced knowledge that revealed the migrants’ perceptions in a relatively unedited way. The knowledge produced was ‘radical’ as it differed considerably from the typical knowledge produced by the organization, which made it unfamiliar and difficult to handle. Not until the final report of the project included an organizational perspective was it made official, and even so the PES made no efforts to publicly present or disseminate the report.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Routledge, 2020
Keywords
User involvement, research, knowledge production, collaboration, control
National Category
Social Work
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-152733 (URN)10.1080/2156857X.2018.1547786 (DOI)2-s2.0-85100787813 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2018-11-19 Created: 2018-11-19 Last updated: 2022-09-22Bibliographically approved
Eriksson, E. (2019). Perspektiv på integration och etablering: kunskapsunderlag för ett strategiskt arbete med stöd till nyanlända. Linköping: Linköping University Electronic Press
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Perspektiv på integration och etablering: kunskapsunderlag för ett strategiskt arbete med stöd till nyanlända
2019 (Swedish)Report (Other academic)
Abstract [sv]

Syftet med rapporten är att via en genomgång av det svenska forskningsläget belysa centrala erfarenheter från tidigare integrationsarbete. Dessa erfarenheter är viktiga att ha i åtanke för att utforma ett ändamålsenligt och strategiskt arbete med integration och stödinsatser till nyanlända. I följande sammanfattning lyfts några av rapportens viktigaste slutsatser och policyimplikationer fram. Alla de punkter som tas upp här diskuteras på ett fördjupat sätt genom kapitel fyra, fem och sex i rapporten.

  • Det befintliga kunskapsunderlaget påvisar vikten av att begreppet integration inte reduceras till arbetsmarknadsetablering, utan även förstås i termer av tillhörighet och delaktighet i samhällets alla områden. Insatser bör därför vidgas bortom språkinlärning och arbetsmarknadspolitiska åtgärder.
  • Genom ett holistiskt perspektiv där stödinsatserna tar hänsyn till den nyanländes hela livssituation, behov och intressen – liksom utgår från en syn på individen som kapabel och motiverad – kan integrationsarbetet bli mer ändamålsenligt. Frågor om exempelvis hälsa, boende och social integration måste förstås som tätt förknippade med, och grundläggande förutsättningar för, arbetamarknadsetablering.
  • Vad gäller insatser riktade till enskilda nyanlända visar erfarenheten att meningsfullheten och individanpassningen i insatserna behöver stärkas, liksom vikten av att insatserna är kvalificerade, integrerade (sammanhållna) och fokuserade. Att möjliggöra för en långsiktig planering för individens etablering i samhället är också centralt, och i detta är förbättrade möjligheter till grundläggande vuxenutbildning och validering av befintlig kunskap viktiga utvecklingsområden.
  • Integration är en fråga som berör alla i samhället. Utöver den enskilde individen är därför det offentliga, civilsamhället och näringslivet alla viktiga aktörer i arbetet med att uppnå integration. Alla aktörer kan genom sitt engagemang bidra till att understödja och möjliggöra integration. I detta har samverkan mellan olika offentliga aktörer, liksom mellan det offentliga och övriga samhället lyfts fram som en framgångsfaktor.
  • Inom det offentliga har ansvaret för integrationsarbetet varierat över tid, och administrativt finns just nu en relativt tydlig ansvarsfördelning mellan stat och kommun. Staten är ytterst ansvarig för mottagandet av nyanlända och bedriver detta arbete genom Arbetsförmedlingens etableringsprogram. I etableringsprogrammet bidrar kommunerna genom att anordna svenska för invandrare och samhällsorientering. I praktiken suddas dock gränser för ansvaret ofta ut. Detta beror bland annat på att enskilda nyanlända kan ha behov av stöd även efter att statens ansvar upphör. Det beror också på att integration är en generell fråga som berör (lokal) politik och förvaltning inom en rad områden, som går utanför det individarbete som Arbetsförmedlingen bedriver i etableringsprogrammet.
  • Arbetsmarknadspolitiska individinsatser är centrala, men bör kombineras med individinsatser på andra områden och med insatser som riktas mot de strukturella och kontextuella förhållanden som hindrar integration. Strukturella insatser kan exempelvis handla om initiativ som gynnar sammanhållning och motverkar främlingsfientlighet, att möjliggöra för nyanlända att på ett jämlikt sätt ta del av välfärden och samhällets sociala arenor, liksom att skapa vilja och incitament för arbetsgivare att anställa invandrare. För att skapa hållbar arbetsmarknadsetablering är det i relation till arbetsgivare angeläget att jobba aktivt för att skapa reguljära arbetstillfällen snarare än överutnyttjande av subventionerade anställningar.
  • En tydlig utmaning i arbetet med integration är att implementera sådana insatser i en samtid som präglas av ökande polarisering, främlingsfientlighet och krav på ”hårdare tag” gentemot invandrare. Inte desto mindre är just sådana insatser centrala för att vända denna trend och skapa ett samhälle där sammanhållningen ökar snarare än minskar.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Linköping: Linköping University Electronic Press, 2019. p. 75
Series
CKS Rapport / Linköpings universitet, Centrum för kommunstrategiska studier, ISSN 1402-876X ; 2019:5
Keywords
Integration av invandrare, Sverige
National Category
Public Administration Studies Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-162124 (URN)9789179299712 (ISBN)
Available from: 2019-11-19 Created: 2019-11-19 Last updated: 2019-12-09Bibliographically approved
Eriksson, E. (2019). The market of own experience [Den egna erfarenhetens marknad]: Service user involvement and the commodification of individuals experience of mental illness [Om brukarinflytandearbete och kommodifieringen av individers erfarenhet av psykisk ohälsa]. Sociologisk forskning, 56(2), 85-109
Open this publication in new window or tab >>The market of own experience [Den egna erfarenhetens marknad]: Service user involvement and the commodification of individuals experience of mental illness [Om brukarinflytandearbete och kommodifieringen av individers erfarenhet av psykisk ohälsa]
2019 (English)In: Sociologisk forskning, ISSN 0038-0342, E-ISSN 2002-066X, Vol. 56, no 2, p. 85-109Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Recent research on user involvement in welfare services suggests that involvement practices are increasingly individualized and driven by market logics. This article is based on an ethnographic study within a public psychiatry organization, applying the concept of commodification to examine this trend in contemporary user involvement. By showing how public user involvement takes the form of a market where individuals narratives and experiences of mental health and psychiatric treatment are bought and sold as a commodity, the analysis illuminates how market logics manifests in practice. One of the consequences of this commodification is that the user movement and its representatives are limited in their role as independent actors pursuing their own agenda, instead acting increasingly on behalf of the public and as a supplier of personal experiences.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Lund, Sweden: Sveriges Sociologförbund, 2019
Keywords
service user involvement; commodification; experts by experience; mental health; narratives
National Category
Work Sciences
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-162357 (URN)000495372100002 ()
Available from: 2019-11-28 Created: 2019-11-28 Last updated: 2022-05-10Bibliographically approved
Eriksson, E. (2018). Brukarinflytandets politiska innebörder: Konsensusorientering, individcentrering och avpolitisering i den nationella policydiskursen. Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift, 25(2), 91-113
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Brukarinflytandets politiska innebörder: Konsensusorientering, individcentrering och avpolitisering i den nationella policydiskursen
2018 (Swedish)In: Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift, ISSN 1104-1420, E-ISSN 2003-5624, Vol. 25, no 2, p. 91-113Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [sv]

Sedan åtminstone 25 år tillbaka finns politiska förväntningar på att den offentliga välfärdsadministrationenska medge brukarinflytande i sina verksamheter.1 För att få enbild av vad lokala människobehandlande organisationer har att förhålla sig till i dettaarbete riktar artikeln sökarljuset mot nationell policy och undersöker hur fenomenetbrukarinflytande framställs i offentliga utredningar, rapporter och styrdokumentproducerade på nationell central nivå. Syftet är att granska den offentliga nationellapolicyn kring brukarinflytande, för att därigenom synliggöra den styrning de nationellapolicyaktörerna ägnar sig åt (jfr Bacchi, 2009). Arbetet är en diskursanalytiskdokumentstudie och den övergripande fråga som väglett undersökningen är: Hurkonstrueras fenomenet brukarinflytande i svensk nationell välfärdspolicy?

Abstract [en]

The political meaning of user involvement – Consensus, individualization, and de-politicization in the national policy discourseDuring the last 25 years ”user involvement” has emerged as a prominent concept within the welfare sector, and the aim of the article is to review the Swedish national policy on ”user involvement”. Through a policy discourse analysis inspired by Carol Bacchi, the constitutive effects of the policy are revealed. Three distinctive features of the policy discourse are (1) its open and imprecise formulation, (2) its dominating consensus perspective, and (3) the tendency to focus the argumentation on the service users as individuals, rather than the service users as a collective. The policy has several discursive consequences, such as constructing the service users as subjects responsible for their own well-being; that potential value conflicts are avoided; and that the service users’ ambitions to influence are directed towards welfare organizations rather than political decision-making.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Växjö, Sweden: Förbundet för Forskning i Socialt Arbete, 2018
Keywords
brukarinflytande, policy, dokumentanalys, styrning
National Category
Social Work
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-152734 (URN)
Available from: 2018-11-19 Created: 2018-11-19 Last updated: 2022-05-10Bibliographically approved
Eriksson, E. (2018). Four features of cooptation: User involvement as sanctioned resistance. Nordisk välfärdsforskning | Nordic Welfare Research, 3(1), 7-17
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Four features of cooptation: User involvement as sanctioned resistance
2018 (English)In: Nordisk välfärdsforskning | Nordic Welfare Research, ISSN 1799-4691, E-ISSN 2464-4161, Vol. 3, no 1, p. 7-17Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The article draws on a three-year ethnographical study investigating how “service user involvement” was constructed (i.e. understood, implemented, and performed) within two large Swedish welfare organizations – a county-based psychiatric organization and a municipal social service administration (see Eriksson 2015). When analyzing the interactions between the user movement and the welfare organizations, a relationship much like cooptation (Selznick, 1949) was revealed. The article outlines four characteristic features of this coopting relationship: (1) The bonding between the parties, incorporating the user representatives in the organizations and their institutional logic; (2) The organizational framing of the user involvement activities; setting the initial rule for how to act/speak, where to act/speak, when to act/speak as well as what to speak about; (3) The organizational control exercised as the activities took place, directing the discussions and interaction to align with the interests of the welfare organizations; and (4) The resistance exercised by user representatives, enabling them to influence the organizations and contribute to change. Together, these four features disclose service user involvement as a “sanctioned resistance”: At the same time as the institutionalized service user involvement controls and constrains the way service user representatives act and pursue their goals, it gives them a possibility to challenge the welfare organizations from within. However, the influence that is permitted can be understood as adjustments within the prevailing institutional logic, rather than changes that transformed the organizations in more profound ways.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Universitetsforlaget, 2018
Keywords
user involvement, cooptation, resistance, welfare, social work
National Category
Social Work
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-152020 (URN)10.18261/issn.2464-4161-2018-01-02 (DOI)
Available from: 2018-10-16 Created: 2018-10-16 Last updated: 2018-11-20Bibliographically approved
Eriksson, E. (2018). Incorporation and Individualization of Collective Voices: Public Service User Involvement and the User Movement’s Mobilization for Change. VOLUNTAS - International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 29(4), 832-843
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Incorporation and Individualization of Collective Voices: Public Service User Involvement and the User Movement’s Mobilization for Change
2018 (English)In: VOLUNTAS - International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, ISSN 0957-8765, E-ISSN 1573-7888, Vol. 29, no 4, p. 832-843Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

‘Service user involvement’ is a widespread and well-known phenomenon within welfare policy and practice in Western countries and is usually perceived as a way of improving welfare services to better aid service users in managing their predicaments. However, the presented ethnographical study of service user involvement within a Swedish psychiatry organization shows that user involvement initiatives might also result in unintended and undesired effects on the collective user movement (i.e. the service user organizations involved in the activities). The analysis suggests that initiatives on user involvement might affect both the constitution of the user movement as well as the way the movement operates. Theoretically co-optation theory informs the analysis.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer-Verlag New York, 2018
Keywords
Co-optation, Individualization, Participation, User involvement, Social movements
National Category
Social Work
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-145536 (URN)10.1007/s11266-018-9971-4 (DOI)000446351400016 ()2-s2.0-85042222832 (Scopus ID)
Note

Funding agencies: Lund University

Available from: 2018-03-05 Created: 2018-03-05 Last updated: 2018-10-17Bibliographically approved
Organisations
Identifiers
ORCID iD: ORCID iD iconorcid.org/0000-0002-0340-1358

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