Rethinking Vocational Rehabilitation through Institutional Ethnography
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31265/jcsw.v12i2.151Keywords:
institutional ethnography, vocational rehabilitation, implementation research, activation policy, NorwayAbstract
In Norway, vocational rehabilitation for people with support needs involves complex inter-professional and inter-organizational processes that do not have clear institutional boundaries. Every process involves a new constellation of actors, representing divergent practices, ideas and objectives. This article argues that much of the current research on the implementation of activation policy inadequately captures the mechanisms and processes that influence vocational rehabilitation practices. The article proposes the use of institutional ethnography (IE) to empirically examine vocational rehabilitation, and argues that IE provides methodological concepts and tools that enable researchers to link and make visible the everyday practices, the social relations and the institutional contexts that make up vocational rehabilitation processes.
References
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Smith, D. E. (2005). Institutional Ethnography: A Sociology for People. Oxford: AltaMira Press.
Smith, G. (1990). Political Activist as Ethnographer. Social Problems, 37(4), 629–648.
Thorén, K. (2008). Activation Policy in Action: A Street-Level Study of Social Assistance in the Swedish Welfare State. (PhD Thesis), Växjö University Press.
Townsend, E. (1996). Institutional Ethnography: A Method for Showing How the Context Shapes Practice. Occupational Therapy Journal of Research, 16(3), 179–199.
Van Berkel, R. (2007). Individualised activation services in the EU. In R. Van Berkel & B. Valkenburg (Eds.), Making it Personal: Individualising Activation Services in the EU. (pp. 245–264). Bristol: The Policy Press.
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Van Berkel, R., & Knies, E. (2016). Performance Management, Caseloads and the Frontline Provision of Social Services. Social Policy & Administration, 50(1), 59–78.
Van der Aa, P. & Van Berkel, R. (2014). Innovating job activation by involving employers. International Social Security Review, 67(2), 11–27.
Walby, K. (2007). On the Social Relations of Research: A Critical Assessment of Institutional Ethnography. Qualitative Inquiry, 13(7), 1008–1030.
Widerberg, K. (2015). I hjertet av velferdsstaten: En invitasjon til institusjonell etnografi. Oslo: Cappelen Damm akademisk.
White Paper no. 9 (2006-2007). Arbeid, velferd og inkludering. Oslo: Arbeids- og sosialdepartementet.
Andreassen, T. A., & Fossestøl, K. (2014). Utfordrende inkluderingspolitikk: Samstyring for omforming av institusjonell logikk i arbeidslivet, helsetjenesten og NAV. Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning, 55(2), 173-202.
Anker, J., & Halvorsen, R. (2007). Claiming participation rights: Social mobilization and citizenship in Denmark and Norway. In B. Hvinden & H. Johansson (Eds.), Citizenship in Nordic Welfare States: Dynamics of choice, duties and participation in a changing Europe (pp. 97–111). Bodmin: Routledge.
Bisaillon, L. (2012). An Analytic Glossary to Social Inquiry Using Institutional and Political Activist Ethnography. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 11(5), 607–627.
Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic Interactionism. Perspective and Method. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Bonoli, G. (2014). Employers' attitudes towards long-term unemployed people and the role of activation in Switzerland. International Journal of Social Welfare, 23(4), 421–430.
Brodkin, E. Z. (2013). Street-Level Organizations and the Welfare State. In E. Z. Brodkin & G. Marston (Eds.), Work and the Welfare State Street-Level Organizations and Workfare Politics (pp. 17-34). Washington: Georgetown University Press.
Brodkin, E. Z., & Marston, G. (2013). Work and the Welfare State: Street-Level Organizations and Workfare Politics. Washington: Georgetown University Press.
Campbell, M., & Gregor, F. (2008). Mapping Social Relations: A primer in Doing Institutional Ethnography. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.
DeVault, M., & McCoy, L. (2006). Institutional Ethnography: Using Interviews to Investigate Ruling Relations. In D. Smith (Ed.), Institutional Ethnography as Practice (pp. 15–44). Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield.
Deveau, J. L. (2008). Examining the Institutional Ethnographer's Toolkit. The Journal of the Society for the Socialist Studies, 4(2), 1–20.
Dubois, V. (2010). The Bureaucrat and the Poor. Encounters in French Welfare Offices. Surrey: Ashgate.
Forte, J. A. (2004). Symbolic Interactionism and Social Work: A forgotten Legacy, Part 1. Families in Societies: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 85(3), 391–400.
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. New York: Anchor Books.
Grahame, P. R. (1998). Ethnography, Institutions, and the Problematic of the Everyday World. Human Studies, 21(4), 347–360.
Greve, B. (2014). Welfare and the Welfare State: Present and future. New York: Routledge.
Halvorsen, R., & Hvinden, B. (2011). Andre lands modeller for å fremme sysselsetting blant personer med nedsatt funksjonsevne. NOVA report 14/2011.
Heggebø, K. (2016). Hiring, employment, and health in Scandinavia: The Danish ‘flexicurity’ model in comparative perspective. European Societies, 18(5), 460-486.
Helgøy, I. (1998). Den institusjonsbaserte attføringen i Skandinavia: Diagnostisering, arbeidsformidling og samtaleterapi. (PhD Thesis), Bergen: Universitetet i Bergen.
Hernes, T. (2015). Arbeidsinkludering: Noen historiske spenninger og aktuelle utfordringer. In K. Frøyland & Ø. Spjelkavik (Eds.), Inkluderingskompetanse: Ordinært arbeid som mål og middel (pp. 306–325). Oslo: Gyldendal Akademisk.
Horner, B. (1979). Symbolic interactionism and social assessment. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 6(1), 19–33.
Hupe, P., & Hill, M. (2007). Street-level Bureaucracy and Public Accountability. Public Administration, 85(2), 279–299.
Ingold, J., & Stuart, M. (2014). The Demand-Side of Active Labour Market Policies: A Regional Study of Employer Engagement in the Work Programme. Journal of Social Policy, 44(03), 443–462.
Järvinen, M., & Mik-Meyer, N. (2003). At skabe en klient: Institusjonelle identiteter i socialt arbejde. Copenhagen: Hans Reitzels Forlag.
Kasin, M. & Sannes, B. (2012). Fra vernet bedrift i et vernet marked, til tiltaksbedrift i et konkurranseutsatt marked: Framtidige tjenesteleveranser i et uforutsigbart marked. (Master Thesis), Oslo: Høyskolen i Oslo og Akershus.
Lipsky, M. (1980). Street-Level bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the individual in public services. New York: Russell Sage.
Lundberg, K. G. (2012). Uforutsigbare relasjoner: Brukererfaringer, Nav-reformen og levd liv. (PhD Thesis), Bergen: Universitetet i Bergen.
Martin, C. J. (2004). Reinventing Welfare Regimes: Employers and the Implementation of Active Social Policy. World Politics, 57(1), 39–69.
Meyers, M. K., & Vorsanger, S. (2003). Street-Level Bureaucrats and the Implementation of Public Policy. In G. Peters & J. Pierre (Eds.), Handbook of Public Administration (pp. 245–256). London: SAGE.
Mäkitalo, Å. (2006). Effort on display: Unemployment and the interactional management of moral accountability. Symbolic interaction, 29(4), 531–556.
Newman, J. (2007). The ‘double dynamics’ of activation: Institutions, citizens and the remaking of welfare governance. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 27(9/10), 364–375.
Olsen, T. (2009). Versjoner av arbeid: Dagaktivitet og arbeid etter avviklingen av institusjonsomsorgen. (PhD Thesis), Uppsala Universitet.
PROBA (2016). Evaluering av offentlig anskaffelse: Nytt avklarings- og oppfølgingstiltak. Delrapport 1.
Rankin, J. M., & Campbell M. L. (2006). Managing to Nurse: Inside Canada's Health Care Reform. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Smith, D. E. (2005). Institutional Ethnography: A Sociology for People. Oxford: AltaMira Press.
Smith, G. (1990). Political Activist as Ethnographer. Social Problems, 37(4), 629–648.
Thorén, K. (2008). Activation Policy in Action: A Street-Level Study of Social Assistance in the Swedish Welfare State. (PhD Thesis), Växjö University Press.
Townsend, E. (1996). Institutional Ethnography: A Method for Showing How the Context Shapes Practice. Occupational Therapy Journal of Research, 16(3), 179–199.
Van Berkel, R. (2007). Individualised activation services in the EU. In R. Van Berkel & B. Valkenburg (Eds.), Making it Personal: Individualising Activation Services in the EU. (pp. 245–264). Bristol: The Policy Press.
Van Berkel, R., & Valkenburg, B. (2007). The individualisation of activation services in context. In R. Van Berkel & B. Valkenburg (Eds.), Making it Personal: Individualising Activation Services in the EU. (pp. 3–21). Bristol: The Policy Press.
Van Berkel, R., & Knies, E. (2016). Performance Management, Caseloads and the Frontline Provision of Social Services. Social Policy & Administration, 50(1), 59–78.
Van der Aa, P. & Van Berkel, R. (2014). Innovating job activation by involving employers. International Social Security Review, 67(2), 11–27.
Walby, K. (2007). On the Social Relations of Research: A Critical Assessment of Institutional Ethnography. Qualitative Inquiry, 13(7), 1008–1030.
Widerberg, K. (2015). I hjertet av velferdsstaten: En invitasjon til institusjonell etnografi. Oslo: Cappelen Damm akademisk.
White Paper no. 9 (2006-2007). Arbeid, velferd og inkludering. Oslo: Arbeids- og sosialdepartementet.
Published
2017-12-12
How to Cite
Aksnes, S. Y. (2017). Rethinking Vocational Rehabilitation through Institutional Ethnography. Journal of Comparative Social Work, 12(2), 100–122. https://doi.org/10.31265/jcsw.v12i2.151
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