Vad gör vi och vad vet vi? : En studie om verksamma och blivande socionomers syn på arbetet med gängkriminalitet

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study was to examine social workers’ and social work students’ views on organized crime as a social problem, and on the ongoing societal work with it. The method used was qualitative and the empirical material was collected through semi-structured interviews. Questions focused on the interviewee’s perspectives on cause, victims and solutions as well as on their thoughts on police work with Operation Rimfrost. The study’s disposition was social constructivist, and for the analysis Donileen Loseke’s theory of "claim" was combined with that of Social Problem Construction. The study specifically explored the two respondent groups' perceptions of social work’s “claim” of organized crime, and whether they considered that their current education prepares them for the work with organized crime. The results of the study showed that both students and professionals held a consensus regarding who suffers from organized crime, it’s causes, and the interventions necessary. It was also identified that both groups believe themselves to have knowledge regarding reasons for people to join gangs. However, the study concludes that knowledge concerning the actual praxis of working with criminal clients was lacking, both among students and social workers who were not dealing directly with the issue. It also showed that depending on the claim’s construction of the gang-members as victims or not affected which interventions, methods, and organizations deemed suitable to deal with the issue.