Research subject Poverty and social assistance

Research that addresses welfare problems and social assistance plays a central role in social work as a scientific discipline. The area is not only subject to more explicit attention, but is also present in research that mainly focuses on other social problems.

Research on welfare issues, social assistance and the social service's handling of social benefits has a long tradition at the Department of Social Work. The field is covered - and has been covered - with a broad methodological approach and includes both national and international perspectives, as well as macro- and micro-level studies.

Among the areas that are given special attention are different perspectives on the relationship between the social assistance system and the other welfare systems, and on issues that, at an aggregate level, relate to the underlying factors, duration, etcetera. Another central field is the research that deals with the organization of social assistance work as well as the mechanisms governing the individual social workers' regular work with clients. Focus is also continuously directed towards the social service clients, partly related to issues relating to the recipient population as a whole and subgroups within it, and partly with interest directed towards interventions aiming to make recipients self-sufficient.