“Att finnas där människor finns” - En kvalitativ studie om socionomer i civilsamhället

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to examine how social workers in civil society experience their work, by using organizational theories. In addition the aim was to study how social workers in civil society look at their role as social workers, with the terms professional identity and professional role. The method that was used was qualitative and semistructured interviews with five social workers that work in different organizations in civil society. The study found that the social workers in the study experienced that the flexible organizational structure in civil society organizations was an opportunity which helped them to assist the organizations’ target group. Another experience was that the organizational structure allows for closer relationships to the target group, which, on the other hand, can lead to conflicts about boundaries. In addition, some interviewees found that they have an opportunity to influence society, while some said that they did not strive to influence society. The interviewees also experienced insufficient funding and too few workers. Another experience was that timing was important to be able to influence and get funding. The role of social worker is not defined when working in civil society and the interviewees said that they did not think of themselves as social workers. However, they found that they contribute a lot with their education and experience as social workers.