"Man kan inte släppa en människa helt fri utan krav" En kvalitativ studie om socialsekreterares syn på motprestation inom ekonomiskt bistånd.

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to examine how social workers experienced their ability to affect what requirements were set on individuals receiving social assistance. The purpose was also to understand, from a social worker’s perspective, what use these requirements had and what role they played in the process towards self-sufficiency. The analytic framework used to understand our empirics, gathered by six qualitative interviews with social workers working with social assistance in a large municipality in Sweden, was empowerment and discretion. We found that social workers limits where not in organizational constraints but their freedom of action was in their ability to justify a different conclusion. Our study showed that conditioning social assistance is positive since it has a motivating effect on almost every assistance recipients. According to our informants requirements is a good, and the only, way to help the individuals towards self-sufficiency. A conclusion in line with the sociopolitical development in our society, where the work approach tends to grow strong.