Bilden av socialtjänsten i internetfora

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to examine how and in what contexts the Swedish social services are discussed online. To answer this purpose we have studied two Swedish Internet communities, and looked into what was written about social services during a year’s span. To get an overview of our results, we found thematic analysis useful to distinguish general themes. We found, inter alia, that the social services is most often mentioned in the contexts of factual questions or when trying to rally public opinion against the social services. We also found that it’s in the contexts of economy, children, and alcohol and drugs that social services are present in Internet communities. The examined online discourse on Swedish social services was mostly objective and factual, and free from value statements, though often negative. The negative descriptions of the social services often refer to the position of power that the social services possess. It is far less frequent for the social services be described in a positive light.