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

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. 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. The project uses a qualitative approach consisting of semi-structured interviews and ethnographically inspired fieldwork. Theoretically, the project conceptualizes the interplay between social work practices and the broader political-institutional framework through the lens of discretion, deportability and differentiation.

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. 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.