Collective political action in the neoliberal welfare state

My dissertation is about collective political action among female dominated, care giving, occupational groups in the transformed Swedish welfare state. Over the last 30 years Sweden, historically known for its ambitions of... [ view full abstract ]

My dissertation is about collective political action among female dominated, care giving, occupational groups in the transformed Swedish welfare state. Over the last 30 years Sweden, historically known for its ambitions of equity and equality, has gone through major changes in line with the neoliberal paradigm. Marketization, individualization and standardization of work routines are some of the effects of the intertwined process of implementing new public management (NPM). Some scholars argue that NPM changes the professional logic, from an occupational to an organizational professionalism, where accountability rather than responsibility is emphasised (Evetts 2009).

The last years, worker’s initiatives and collective political actions among several occupational groups have appeared in the Swedish context. Examples are “the homecare roar”, “Nurses have had enough” and “Breaking the silence among social workers” (my translation). Personnel, both inside and outside the unions, are publishing open letters, starting blogs to describe their work situation, starting/joining networks and some are even collectively handing in their letters of resignation. The reasons stated are both deteriorated working conditions, such as lowered salaries, an increased workload and being controlled with GPS, as well as the inability to carry out a professional work and not being able to guarantee the patient’s/client’s safety.

The international (IFSW) definition of social work puts a strong emphasis on the political responsibility of the social work professionals. At the conference I want to present some initial results from my coming qualitative interview study with social workers, active in the breaking the silence network. Through this I will address how intersections of power play out and are being negotiated collectively in the neoliberal welfare state. As well as what kinds of rooms for action that are opened and needed in order to bring equity and equality issues back on to the agenda.