TESMI - The Tensions of Street-level Social Work for Migrant Inclusion — Discretion, Differentiation and Deportability

About the reserach

Social workers are usually on the frontline enforcing integration regimes but also providing social support with the mandate to promote social change. A position that might create tensions between the integration regimes and what is considered the core definition of social work.

Aim of the project

The project aims to draw conclusions about:

• the impact of integration measures
• current political and social trends

The main objective of this project is thus to provide relevant knowledge of the street-level social work that takes place within contemporary integration regimes. This project aims to explore how street-level social work within contemporary integration regimes is enacted, experienced and understood among social workers and migrants based on recent political and demographic shifts in the Nordic countries. TESMI conceptualises the political-institutional framework through the notions of discretion, deportability and differentiation.

Method and theoretical framework

This project uses a qualitative approach consisting of semi-structured interviews and ethnographically inspired fieldwork drawing primarily on observations and informal conversations with social workers and migrants. Theoretically, the project conceptualizes the interplay between social work practices and the broader political-institutional framework through the lens of discretion, deportability and differentiation.

Why the research is needed

TESMI will break new ground by focusing on the street-level welfare state and social work's particular role and ethos in transforming integration regimes in the Nordics. In relation to recent political and demographic shifts in the Nordic countries, very little is known about how such shifts are approached within social work and how this social work is experienced by migrants themselves.

A Nordic comparative perspective

The Nordic countries participating in this project face similar and different tensions related to migration patterns and how social work is organised and re-organised in relation to the welfare states. Empirically, this project is, as such, unique in its approach to including the perspectives of migrants and a broad range of social workers on these issues within three Nordic countries. TESMI will, as such, be able to draw conclusions on the impact of both integration measures enacted through social work and current political and social trends regarding these issues.

Results

• Social workers' everyday work is marked by considerable uncertainty.
  The uncertainty concerns both the situation of the migrants they meet and uncertainty among staff themselves.
• Temporary residence permits cause severe stress for many migrants.
  Social workers describe how this uncertainty can also limit their encounters with migrants and their ability to work with integration in the ways they have done previously.
• Many newly arrived migrants need support for longer than the available measures provide.
  These limitations create uncertainty about social workers' ability to support integration in ways that respond to the needs they encounter. One preliminary finding is that social workers respond differently to these limitations when trying to meet people's integration-related needs.
• A harsher societal climate and more restrictive migration policies challenge integration work.
  Social workers describe how a societal climate in which migration is repeatedly portrayed as a social problem rather than a resource can make it more difficult to support people in accessing the labour market and participating in society.