Legal consciousness in street-level bureaucracies: A qualitative study on the legal consciousness of social workers assessing eligibility for social assistance in relation to activation requirements

Abstract: Activation measures were implemented as a condition for social assistance in Sweden in the 1990s. Generally, the goal has been to promote the transition from welfare to work and to(re)integrate people dependent on social assistance into the labour market. Social assistance is regulated by the Social Services Act, which is a framework law that gives municipalities and individual social workers extensive discretion in deciding over benefits and interpreting the meaning of the formal legislation. The question becomes how such requirements are operationalized at the street level. Social workers are in a complex situation where they have to take the needs of the assistance recipients into consideration while simultaneously following rules and guidelines. The aim of the study is to examine individual understandings on law and legality among street-level bureaucrats working with activation requirements for social assistance. It intends to answer the question of how social work officials understand, interpret and use the law in the context of assessment of eligibility for social assistance in relation ton activation requirements. This is a qualitative study, based on interviews with social workers from working in Malmö municipality. The study combines legal consciousness and street-level bureaucracy to explore the decision-making role of social worker officials when it comes to social assistance eligibility and activation requirements. The findings suggest that legal consciousness varies depending on what role social workers saw for themselves and prioritised at different moments. When they were in a situation were they could and wanted to exercise their discretion, law was there providing possibilities for actions. Social workers could make use their skills and experience to justify most decisions. When social workers were facing the potential consequences of decisions, law was an impartial and overpowering source, that they as social workers could only follow.