Vid institutionen för socialt arbete på Malmö högskola samlas stora delar av forskningen under en gemensam programförklaring om social utsatthet. Vi beskriver här några teoretiska och normativa utgångspunkter, centrala forskningsområden och den relation vi försöker bygga upp med forskningsfältet. Vi ger även konkreta exempel på vår forskning. Med begreppet social utsatthet riktar vi fokus mot orättvisor och processer som gör att individer och grupper hamnar i sårbara livssituationer som kan innebära att deras framtidsmöjligheter, deras möjligheter att få en någorlunda trygg livssituation, och deras hälsa och upplevelse av värdighet hotas. Social utsatthet betraktas i plattformen som något processuellt och något som skapas och utvecklas beroende på hur man är positionerad i den lokala, nationella, välfärdsstatliga och globala kontexten. I analyser av social utsatthet är det viktigt att synliggöra människors aktörskap. Men det är också av stor vikt att inte se aktörskapet frikopplat från kontextuella faktorer.

In this introduction, we argue for the need to better understand so- cial work with migrants and to enhance its research bases against a background of increasing mobility and ethnic diversification across Europe. While much has been written on the influence of international migration on national welfare regimes and on specific forms of social welfare provision, the ways in which mi- gration affects mainstream social work practices are relatively understudied—even less so in a comparative perspective, looking at social interventions as well as to the organizations and cultures of social services, without neglecting the broader policy arrangements in which social work practice is embedded. The political and pre- scriptive bases of social workers’ remit vis-a`-vis immigrant clients, the ways of framing and categorizing the latter, and the impli- cations for social workers’ training, supervision, and research are discussed. The main value added of the five contributions to this Special Issue of JIRS is highlighted at last.

Social work with displaced people has an extended background in the history of the profession. Yet, it has taken different forms and remits over time, parallel to the evolving legal and political definition of refugee themselves. Inside Europe, in particular, social work with forced migrants has gained new visibility and increasing complexity after the so-called refugee crisis. Aspects like people's limited visibility and eligibility towards formal welfare services, their uncertain legal status, their temporal “liminality” and their non-linear patterns of mobility have all major consequences for social work practice, research and education. In discussing them, we highlight the need to invest in students' (and practitioners') reflexivity, given both the complexity of building up trust-based relationships with forcibly displaced people, and the risk of cultivating essentialized, stigmatizing or nativist representations about them. In all of these respects, our introduction provides a conceptual basis for this Special Issue of EJSW, and for the broader debate in social work across Europe.

Introduction Over the last few years, the concepts and categories of transnational migration studies (Faist, Fauser, & Reisenauer, 2013; Levitt & Jaworsky, 2007) – already well-established across other disciplines – have successfully entered into the educational, theoretical, and practical field of social work. In this article we briefly take stock of this new development, in order to build a framework for the papers that follow. The contributions in this Mapping Transnationalism Section are authored by European leading scholars, with distinct and complementary takes on the emergence of a transnational turn in social work. In the first article, Karen Lyons advances a theoretical approach to social work with mobile populations, based on a conceptual revisit of international social work; in the second paper, in an educationally-oriented perspective, Pat Cox makes a case for a transnational optic to be more systematically assumed in academic curricula; in the last article, Norma Montesino and Mercedes Jiménez-Álvarez discuss the prospects for social work practice with a client group with a strongly transnational profile, such as so-called “unaccompanied minors.”1 What is specific to our own introductory piece, instead, is a three-step argument: a discussion of the conceptual grounds and the external factors underlying the transition from international to transnational social work (Section 1); an overview of the practical forms of transnational social work in the context of migration and of the types of resources circulated through them (Section 2); a preliminary balance of the professional implications of transnational social work with migrants, and of the challenges ahead for its refinement and diffusion (Section 3).

Across Europe, migrant children often have lower educational outcomes than non-migrant children. This is a trajectory that can begin early in the school career and have long-term implications and is due to a host of school and non-school factors. This chapter offers an overview of migrant children’s protection, support and education as well as a synopsis of some of the legislation that impacts young migrants and their integration into schools. To this end, it highlights two contrasting cases (those of Belgium and Poland) in order to better illustrate the fact that even in countries with very different histories of migration, approaches to integration and school systems, there are many common obstacles facing migrant children in schools. Available data on the training of teachers and support workers, migrant children’s access to and placement in schools and the structural space for children’s agency in schools is presented here in order to illustrate the difference between policy and the lived reality of migrant children’s integration into schools. The treatment of children in policy and programming that is summarised here shows the complicated position migrant children occupy in policy, society and education systems.

The significance of ambiguity – Evidence-based practice in social service with children and youth. Evidence-based practice (EBP) has gained a central position as a model of knowledge for social work in the public sector. In the Swedish Government Report about knowledge-based social work from 2008, EBP is described as a useful way of structuring the social services on a scientific basis (SOU 2008:18). Following on this, and in order to establish EBP in social work practice, between 2009 and 2016, there were annual agreements between the government and the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR). As defined by the annual agreements, a national network of Regional Development Leaders (regionala utvecklingsledare) was given the task of producing regional plans of action for the establishment of EBP in the municipalities. The article examines how the Regional Development Leaders in the so-called Children and Youth Investment (Barn- och ungasatsningen) interpret and implement EBP as a model in public social work. The study is based on interviews with 22 out of the 37 Regional Development Leaders that were part of the Children and Youth Investment in 2016. Ernesto Laclau’s theory of empty signifier serves as an analytical tool. The analysis shows that the ambiguity surrounding EBP creates discretion for the Regional Development Leaders. This discretion allows them to use EBP as a ”signifier without a signified”; a model that they can fill with different meanings depending on purpose and context. In that perspective, EBP appears as a floating term and can be characterized as an empty signifier. One of the main results stresses the fact that the Regional Development Leaders describe EBP as a model of governance rather than a model of knowledge. Despite its ambiguity, EBP fills a significant function for the development of knowledge-based social work practices in the public sector.

Firewalls are clear divisions between border policing and the provision of basic social rights. They have a dual character: to ensure that no information collected with the purpose of safeguarding basic social rights should be shared for immigration control purposes; and that migrants should not be subject to immigration control when being present at, or in the vicinity, of religious, private and public institutions upholding and providing social rights. This article suggests a normative argument for ‘firewalls’ in the context of social work and develops the concept theoretically as a principle practised and negotiated at different scales.

The neighbourhood of Sofielund in Malm. is marked by diversity in terms of its population and its varying architecture and types of housing. It is also marked by social divisions, including poverty, housing exploitations and criminality. Over time, a large number of interventions have been implemented to better the situation. The interventions are, among other things, inspired by the Business Improvement District (BID) model and include efforts to enhance social cohesion through a strategy of “opening up Sofielund” through creating “meeting-places.” The article provides an analysis of the lived experiences of residents in Sofielund, and shows how policy efforts on “social cohesion” and the creation of meeting-places are perceived by residents. The presentation argues that while meeting-places aim to even out tensions and strengthen social cohesion, they may also reproduce existent power relations and increase tensions. Consequently, the article shows that strategies of opening up places can have the unintended consequences of closing down for buildings, people, and social relations. The article focuses on how inequality and exclusion unfold in inclusive spaces, and entail different forms of polarisation based on “us” and “them”.

Den här boken visar hur global migration ställer det sociala arbetet inför nya utmaningar. Författarna lyfter fram hur socialt arbete, både som praktik och utbildningsområde, fortsätter att verka utifrån det moderna projektet, med nationalstaten och de grupper som räknats som en del av befolkningen som utgångspunkt. Samtidigt har globaliseringen, där människor i större utsträckning rör sig över statsgränser, ändrat förutsättningarna för socialt arbete i grunden. Om socialt arbete ska kunna svara mot dessa förändringar krävs att migration inte ses som ett problem. För att nå dit måste man ifrågasätta gamla premisser och samtidigt ta tillvara på de erfarenheter inom det praktiska arbetet som kan leda till ny kunskap. Migrationsforskningen lyfter fram teoretiska perspektiv, där migration och andra former av rörlighet inte beskrivs som en avvikelse. Därmed skapas förståelseramar som kan inspirera socialt arbete att omdefiniera sina utgångspunkter. Det är just det som är författarnas syfte, att via ett migrationsperspektiv peka på nya vägar, inom både utbildning och praktik.

La reestructuración del Estado de bienestar sueco y el aumento de las desigualdades son transformaciones sociales ocurri- das durante los tres últimos decenios. Suecia ha perdido su posición de liderazgo en los rankings internacionales sobre igualdad social. Nuevas formas de entender y abordar los problemas sociales permiten la privatización de los servicios so- ciales, antes públicos. Además, cambios demográficos como el aumento de la movilidad internacional y la complejidad en la dinámica de los problemas sociales exigen nuevas respuestas de los servicios sociales, lo que tiene claras implicaciones para el Trabajo Social, que surgió como una actividad delimitada territorialmente por las fronteras nacionales. El caso de los niños migrantes es un ejemplo, ya que expresa claramente esas nuevas problemáticas y muestra diver- sas y contradictorias respuestas desde los servicios de protección de la infancia. En este artículo discutimos las respues- tas que dan los trabajadores sociales en la atención de casos y las respuestas institucionalizadas desde los hogares de acogida. En esos lugares detectamos el fracaso de las formas institucionalizadas de protección de la infancia. En la aten- ción de casos individuales vemos surgir respuestas que, dentro de los marcos de la legalidad, cuestionan una tradición de lealtad y subordinación a la autoridad en la historia del Trabajo Social en Suecia. Respuestas aparte, vemos también surgir organizaciones que cuestionan políticas represivas e intentan trabajar desde una perspectiva que toma en cuenta las problemáticas que afectan a los niños migrantes.

ETHNIC RELATIONS AND ACADEMIC CURRICULUM IN THE FORMATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS IN SWEDEN: A RESEARCH PROJECT  

In a recently initiated research project we analize the contents of educational programs for social workers in Sweden with regard to ethnic relations. This field of knowledge has varied over time according to the dominant traditions in social work education. The specific aim of our study is to describe the different ways in which ethnic relations have been conceptualized in the contents of the different parts of social work education curricula. We argue that understandings of ethnic relations should play a central role in the academic training of social workers in Sweden. We also want to participate in the international dialogue initiated by this journal, a discussion that have underlined to the need to adapt the contents of social work to the demands of a global society.

In this paper we discuss knowledge conceptions implicit in social workers’ academic education in Sweden, knowledge conceptions often introduced as incompatible. We sustain that behind this image of incompatibility there are differences but also common assumptions. This paper is based on the review of documents treating different aspects of the social workers’ education in Sweden. Analysis focuses on three different periods in the history of the Social Work Education: first period tackles the establishment of the first educational program; second period considers the establishment of the social work as an academic discipline; and the third period deals with the current situation. The different knowledge conceptions prevailing in each period respond as much to the society demands as to the internal exigencies of the academic world. En este artículo debatimos sobre las concepciones del conocimiento implícitas en la formación académica de trabajadores sociales en Suecia, concepciones que a menudo se presentan como incompatibles. Sostenemos que detrás de esa imagen de incompatibilidad existen diferencias, pero también presupuestos comunes. Este artículo se basa en la lectura de documentos que tratan de diferentes aspectos de la educación de trabajadores sociales en Suecia. El análisis se concentra en tres períodos de la historia de la educación en Trabajo Social: el primer período, aborda el establecimiento del primer programa de educación; el segundo período contempla el establecimiento de Trabajo Social como disciplina académica; y el tercer período trata de la situación actual. Las diferentes concepciones del conocimiento dominantes en cada uno de esos períodos responden tanto a las demandas de la sociedad como a las exigencias internas del mundo académico.

Following the 2015-peak of asylum-seeking migrants in Europe, asylum-policies have become increasingly restrictive. As bordering has become a prioritized issue among many European national governments, including in the Nordic countries, practices of bordering have also become more decentralised, diffuse and dispersed. This special issue set focus on such bordering practices as these are manifest in the social service sector. It draws on research conducted in Norway and Sweden and consists, besides this introduction, of seven original articles.Of particular focus is how social work, in its regulations and practices, are involved in the bordering of both the nation and the welfare state. Connecting insights from border studies – and related critical research – with social work research, the articles present empirical analyses of the dynamics of bordering practices among varying practitioners and in varying organizations, including legislators, courts, municipalities, street-level social workers and civil society organizations. The special issue as a whole also raises questions about the ethical and political challenges that emerge at the nexus of bordering and social service provision. In this introductory article, we provide an overview of the field of border studies and discuss how it relates to social work research. This serves as a conceptual foundation which we hope will enable critical reflections on the relationships between social service provision and bordering practices in Norway, Sweden and beyond.

Following the 2015-peak of asylum-seeking migrants in Europe, asylumpolicies have become increasingly restrictive. As bordering has become a prioritized issue among many European national governments, including in the Nordic countries, practices of bordering have also become more decentralised, diffuse and dispersed. This special issue set focus on such bordering practices as these are manifest in the social service sector. It draws on research conducted in Norway and Sweden and consists, besides this introduction, of seven original articles.Of particular focus is how social work, in its regulations and practices, are involved in the bordering of both the nation and the welfare state. Connecting insights from border studies – and related critical research – with social work research, the articles present empirical analyses of the dynamics of bordering practices among varying practitioners and in varying organizations, including legislators, courts, municipalities, street-level social workers and civil society organizations. The special issue as a whole also raises questions about the ethical and political challenges that emerge at the nexus of bordering and social service provision. In this introductory article, we provide an overview of the field of border studies and discuss how it relates to social work research. This serves as a conceptual foundation which we hope will enable critical reflections on the relationships between social service

Professional social work was established and expanded in a historical moment marked by intense nation-building; it was organized along and in parallel with other welfare state services which functioned to strengthen the nation-state. Today social work is at practice in a society marked by intensified globalisation; social needs and social problems that social workers are confronted with in their professional practice are sometimes transnational in their dynamics and cannot adequately be understood when limited to a local or national context. Drawing on insights from the transnational perspective, this article identifies challenges and ways ahead in the development of social work practice and theory with relevance for the globalised society. It argues that the transnational perspective can contribute to the dissolving of binaries between both ‘here’ and ‘there’, and ‘us’ and ‘them’ in social work, and pave the way for approaching social problems from a relational viewpoint beyond ‘given’ territorial and ethnocultural lenses.

This presentation is about the variation of family forms and how this can be understood in a local and trans-local perspective. The family is approached in two different ways; as framed by norms and values embedded within social policy and as framed by family practices. The comparative study of social policy informs us how norms and values embedded within welfare systems foster different expectations about the family as an institution; what caring responsibilities the family should take on. This fostering involves the structuring of social relations inside the family; between women and men and between children and parents. Whereas in some contexts the family (read women) is expected to take on the responsibility of caring for children, elderly, sick, disabled, etc., in other contexts the state will, in varying degrees, take on part that responsibility. This means that welfare states shape the contours of “normal” family relations; intimate relations tied up with conceptions of who we are, and that this normality is contextual varying across time and space. Taking another perspective, transnational studies inform us how individual and collective actors live their life oriented towards and even anchored within two or more states; in two or more sets of norms and values. In view of the more macro-oriented understanding of intimate relations that culturally inclined social policy scholars suggest, this article deals with a more micro-oriented analysis of how foreign born parents residing in a locality in Sweden respond to tensions between different sets of norms and values of how family relations as a normative practice should be constituted. The puzzle at stake is how migrants who have moved or is moving across space embedded in different sets of norms and values of what is considered to be “good” parental relations with children, experience and deal with tensions between different sets of norms and values in their parenthood. The study suggests that while some migrants adapt to the norms and values fostered by the Swedish welfare state, others ignore them overall. A third group captures a middle ground identifying themselves with some aspects of the norms and values fostered by the Swedish welfare state but not in others. This variation of identities, leads off to a variation of practices within and across state borders and cultures that are dependent on various forms of individual and collective resources.

Sammanfattning 

Detta kunskapsunderlag om integration till Tillväxtkommissionen för ett inkluderande och hållbart Malmö tar avstamp i frågor om hur man kan arbeta för att stärka integration i städer som präglas av en omfattande mångfald i sin befolkning. Rapporten utgör en kunskapsöversikt av ett urval av forskning på området och består utöver inledningen som presenterar rapportens ansats, av tre delar: en mer teoretisk del, en del som presenterar en översikt av empirisk forskning, och en avslutande del som sammanfattar forskningsöversikten och kopplar denna till frågor om integration i Malmö. Denna del innehåller även två rekommendationer och en fråga. 

Inledningen visar hur Malmö, liksom många andra städer, präglas av en omfattande diversitet som uppstått till följd av globala migrationsmönster och nationella bosättningsmönster. År 2021 var 35 procent av befolkningen i Malmö utrikes född. Om vi vidgar greppet och även ser till inrikes personer med minst en utrikes född förälder, det vill säga både personer med egen migrationserfarenhet och personer där en av eller båda föräldrarna har migrationserfarenhet, så har 56 procent av Malmös befolkning migrationsbakgrund och det med ursprung i inte mindre än 184 länder. 44 procent av Malmös befolkning är födda i Sverige av föräldrar som båda är födda i Sverige. Detta innebär att det i Malmö finns fler personer som har migrationsbakgrund än som inte har det. 

Denna utveckling har gett upphov till en omfattande debatt om integration i både forskning, politik och praktik. Medan både forskning, politik och praktiska verksamheter historiskt har utgått från att invandrade minoriteter kommer att assimileras med majoritetsbefolkningen, ibland med stöd för att bevara vissa kulturella särdrag, introducerades begreppet superdiversitet för ett femtontal år sedan för att beskriva nya former av diversifiering och för att öppna upp för en diskussion om integration som tar avstamp i denna pågående utveckling. Denna diversifiering involverar inte bara allt fler födelseländer, nationaliteter och etniciteter, utan även inom varje sådan grupp sker en diversifiering, bland annat i formen av skilda migrationsvägar och juridiska status, vilket påverkar social differentiering och integration. Mot denna bakgrund, syftar superdiversitet som begrepp att möjliggöra en behövlig ’synvända’ kring integration. Kunskapsöversikten tar avstamp i denna diskussion och ser till empirisk forskning som har relevans för hur vi kan tänka kring och verka för att stärka integration i den diversifierade staden. Utöver inledningen som beskriver denna ansats, består rapporten av tre delar. 

Den första delen är mer teoretisk och tar spjärn mot frågan vad diversitet och integration är och hur det kan förstås i samhällen som präglas av omfattande diversitet. Fokus ligger först på diversitet, och vad som skiljer superdiversitet från diversitet i städer. Detta leder in till en diskussion om integration, och inte minst hur super-/diversitet utmanar invanda sätt att tänka kring integration. Denna första del avslutas med en diskussion om hur vi kan tänka kring superdiversitet i ett integrationsperspektiv. Diskussionen tar avstamp i en politik- och praktikorienterad modell för integration och ser till hur denna kan förstås i ljuset av superdiversitet. 

Andra delen presenterar empirisk forskning om integration i urbana sammanhang som präglas av omfattande diversitet. Den modell för integration som presenteras i inledningen, används för att sortera forskningspublikationerna. Avsnittet är strukturerat efter modellens fyra huvudområden för integration (markörer och verktyg; sociala kopplingar; underlättare; fundament), och empirisk forskning om integration och superdiversitet i urbana sammanhang diskuteras i relation till modellens fjorton domäner. 

Den tredje och avslutande delen består av en sammanfattande diskussion, två förslag och en fråga. Den sammanfattande diskussionen lyfter vilka lärdomar som går att dra från befintlig forskning om integration i städer som präglas av en omfattande migrationsdriven mångfald; den sätter fokus på hur integration påverkas av såväl nationell och lokal politik, som hur organisationer och professionella arbetar med integration inom olika verksamheter. Det är alltid en utmaning att säga hur och i vilken grad kunskap från ett sammanhang är överförbar till ett annat. De två rekommendationer som utfärdas riktar sig dels till politiken i Malmö, dels till Malmö stad som organisation. Rapporten avslutas med en fråga om vilket slags kunskapsunderlag Malmö stad behöver för att kunna utveckla politik och praktik så att dessa svarar mot de behov som finns i staden och dess befolkning. 

Social workers increasingly meet people who live their life oriented towards and sometimes even anchored in two or more countries across the world, and face situations and social problems that cannot be understood from solely a local perspective. This development has nourished the interest of international perspectives on social work, which today are growing in importance. Due to this situation it is appropriate to review existing perspectives and definitions. The first definitions of international social work came in the 1940s, in the shadow of the second world war. A second wave of theory development came about from the late 1960s due to the emergence of critical theory. Ongoing globalization and the increased dependency between different parts of the world are profound for the ongoing theory development. This review of the literature indicates that while the first definitions of international perspectives on social work were reduced to consider cross-border dimensions, over time inter-cultural dimensions have become an integrated part of international perspectives on social work. In what is today sometimes called transnational social work, the cross-border and cross-cultural dimensions of social work are conflated. The contribution of the review lies in that it shows how earlier discussions and dilemmas are reproduced within the globalization discourse.

Social workers increasingly encounter individuals and groups who live their life oriented towards and sometimes even anchored in places in two or more countries. They also face situations and social problems that cannot be understood solely from a local perspective. This development has nourished the interest in international social work, which is growing in importance today. In spite of this growing interest there is a lack of a coherent definition of international social work. Due to this situation it is appropriate to review existing definitions of international social work and their underlying theoretical assumptions. The first definitions of international social work appeared in the 1940s in the shadow of the Second World War. These were based on a western understanding of social work and on modernization theory. A second wave of theory development came about from the late 1960s as societal power hierarchies and critical theory were brought to the fore in popular and academic debates. Globalization and the increased dependency between different parts of the world are of profound significance for ongoing theory development. This article shows that, while the first definitions of international social work were reduced to considering cross-border dimensions, over time inter-cultural dimensions have become an integral part of international social work. In what is today sometimes called transnational social work, the cross-border and cross-cultural dimensions of international social work are conflated. The article also shows how earlier discussions and dilemmas are reproduced in ongoing discussions. The article orgaanizes different theoretical positions in a table and hopes to stimulate further discussion of international social work.

Epistemological hierarchies in the social sciences stipulate that sedentarism is naturalised as a normality, and that mobility is viewed as a deviation. This article sets out to propose an analytical framework that takes the analysis beyond this kind of nationalized knowledge production, and to empirically show the gains of de-nationalized frameworks for analysis of social protection and dynamics of in-/equality in the globalised society. I will do this relying on the empirical example of the public old-age pension scheme in Sweden.

The establishment and development of social policy is generally described as a response to the modern project. Whereas the establishment and development of social policy has developed in divergent ways in different nation-states, overall it has developed within a national frame. In the literature the so called “golden age” of western welfare states is even described in terms of national closures. These closures have from the outset been challenged by mobile individuals. Immigration brings in outsiders – should they access national social security schemes? Emigration carries out insiders – should they access national social security schemes from abroad? These are classical who-questions in social policy research, here related to mobility. Ongoing globalization and increased international migration have nurtured this field of inquiry, sometimes named transnational social policy. This study takes a historical stance on the issue. Under analytical focus is how discourses of mobility and belonging in Swedish social policy have transformed over time. The overall question dealt with is how we can understand Swedish state social responsibility towards transnational populations. More specifically it asks how different understandings of mobility and belonging in Swedish social policy have shaped (i) the access to social security for foreigners in Sweden and (ii) the portability of social security to outside of Sweden for citizens and foreigners. The analysis relies on written documents (statutory investigations, state reports, etc.). The study contributes to connect social policy analysis with mobility studies and it brings new insights to our understanding of Swedish social policies.

The Swedish case study focuses on two kinds of place-based strategies, namely sustainable urban development (SUD) and community led local development (CLLD) strategies as these were implemented in the Malmö functional urban area (FUA) during the programming period 2014–2020. The SUD strategy is part of the Skåne-Blekinge Programme and is implemented in the inner urban area of the Malmö City56. The CLLD strategy is implemented in two CLLD areas, the areas of Leader Lundaland and Leader Söderslätt. These are the two southwesternmost CLLD areas57 in Sweden, and they encircle the city of Malmö, located on the west coast of Scania, connecting Sweden with Denmark and the continent via the Öresund bridge. Leader Lundaland and Leader Söderslätt comprise five municipalities each58. For the purpose of this report the functional urban area of Malmö along the outer borders of these municipalities has been considered. In fact, the case study perimeter deviates slightly from the functional urban area as defined by EUROSTAT; in our case study the Eslöv municipality is included, although it is not in the area defined by EUROSTAT (see figure 1)59. This definition also means that one municipality, the Burlöv municipality, is included in the Malmö functional area though it is not targeted by any of the strategies.

This article revisits the social work–migration nexus by investigating the implications of the debate on mobility and transnationalism. The conceptual boundary between migration as single-directed movement and as an extended and multidirected process has been much discussed across the social sciences but not yet fully in social work. However, the dialectic of sedentarism versus mobility makes for a key challenge to the arrangements and the tacit assumptions of this field of research and practice. Building on an innovative analytical framework and on a variety of examples, we highlight the friction between sedentarism and mobility as central to social work with immigrants and their families.

The transnational perspective contributes to the development of theoretical and practical knowledge of social work as this is conditioned and framed in contemporary dynamics of globalization. Social work transnationalism, also referred to as transnational social work, is related to but typically has a more limited and focused purview than international social work. More than a particular field of practice, social work transnationalism is based in particular understandings of social problems and interventions. In migration studies, the transnational perspective has contributed to a reframing of international migration as multidirectional and continuing mobility dynamics in people’s everyday life and in societies. More broadly in the development of the social sciences, the transnational perspective constitutes a critique of naturalized assumptions of “sedentarism” and of societies as nation-states. In the social sciences, this kind of critique is often referred to as a critique of methodological nationalism. For social work, it means that implicit assumptions of social problems and social work as “naturally” framed by nation-states and the reach of nationally organized welfare programs are questioned. Instead, transnational approaches to social problems and social work regard these as they are shaped, experienced, and needed in globalized societies. While the development of the transnational perspective is diversified, its ontological standpoint makes it a particular perspective. This is also why it has a more limited and focused purview than international social work: international social work is not limited to a particular theoretical perspective. The aim of this article is to organize existing literature on social work from a transnational perspective under relevant themes. Below, Overview Works and Collected Volumes are first presented, followed by five themes, which are divided into subthemes. The first theme, Social Work Transnationalism, includes literature developing the transnational perspective in social work, discussions on transnational social work as a set of practices, and implications for social policy. The second theme, Social Work with Transnational Populations, includes literature on social problems and social work in relation to particular populations of migrants, such as children and elderly. The third theme, Migrant Transnationalism and Social Protection across Borders, is a growing field of literature that regards informal social protection systems, often led by migrants through transnational networks. Finally, the fourth and fifth themes are about implications of Social Work Transnationalism among Migrant Professionals and Social Work Transnationalism and Education.

Scandinavian countries are generally associated with extensive public services and low levels of poverty. However, reality has changed dramatically over the last three decades, and Scandinavia’s cities now share many of the problems and challenges familiar from other Western cities. How do the welfare states handle these global societal transformations? In Social Transformations in Scandinavian Cities, researchers highlight the changing face of social sustainability and social disintegration in Scandinavian cities. They offer theoretical and empirical analyses of how migration, inequality, and residential segregation intersect with shifting national and local policies, charting their impact on urban landscapes in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The authors challenge the standard view of Scandinavia as a haven of equality and peace. Unemployment, criminality, and poor school performance in ethnically and socio-economically segregated residential areas have finally been recognized and tackled through urban policies since the 1990s. In Social Transformations in Scandinavian Cities we learn why and in which ways progress is being made.

This article considers competing conceptions of knowledge within Swedish social work education often presented as incompatibles. However, in this article we find commonalities and differences in these conceptions of knowledge. The analysis relies on written materials about Swedish social work education and concentrates on three developmental phases in time: the establishment of the first social worker programme, the establishment of social work as an academic discipline and the current situation. It shows how competing conceptions of knowledge try to respond to societal and academic demands in different ways.

This presentation deals with the national framing of the Swedish social work education and discusses the necessity of relating it to processes of globalization. First we shall problematize how social work has been institutionalized in the Swedish context, and second, relying on the concept of ‘the ignorant schoolmaster’ (Rancière) describe and analyze experiences of teaching social work in the context of the ongoing restructuring. In Sweden, as elsewhere, ‘the social’ was institutionalized within the frames of the nation-state towards the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. These frames, sometimes referred to as methodological nationalism, have conditioned social work both as an academic discipline and as a field of practice and education. However, due to the on-going re-structuring, social problems are no longer successfully dealt with within the national framing of social work. While it is certain that this has implications for the education, it is uncertain how this is adequately dealt with. Here we describe and analyze an attempt to go beyond the institutionalized frames of social work education. In 2009 we accompanied a group of first-year students on a 10-days long field study in Belarus. The field trip was initiated and organized by the students, and we literally participated as ‘ignorant schoolmasters’. This had several implications for the learning process. Instead of a master-student relation, the learning process was characterized by equality; instead of explicators, our roles were to ask questions and to listen. The learning process connected abstract knowledge to actual experiences as well as to personal lives. This includes experiences of poverty, housing, hospitals, orphanages and youth workhouses alien to the Swedish context. It also includes the meeting with transnational families, transnational labor, transnational care and even transnational social work as a response to poverty gaps between different countries. In this way the learning process stretched beyond taken-for-granted assumptions of the social.

Public social policy was institutionalized at a time of intense nation-state building; it wasshaped by, and contributed to the closure of the Westphalian system of social protection.Today’s globalization processes in general, and population mobility and cross-borderdynamics of social problems in particular, challenge such framings of social problems andpolicy interventions. The ‘mobility turn’ within the social sciences has brought forwardrelevant theoretical tools and perspectives for the unbounding of the social from suchnational framings. This chapter contributes to this debate by reviewing two kinds of socialpolicy developments in which this unbounding is evident, though varying in scope anddynamics. The first example draws on a single-case study of the public old-age pension inSweden; it shows how this has included national and foreign citizens who have immigratedto and emigrated from Sweden in varying degrees over time. The second example points thegrowing importance of international organisations in field of public health, compared to inteera of international cooperation, and discusses implications of this for a rights-based healthcare. The chapter suggests a denationalized epistemology as a fruitful way forward fordebates about social justice and social policy within and across countries in the globalisedsociety.