The doctoral project examines the philosophy of social work in general, and Norwegian welfare administration – particularly the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration (Nav).
Methodologically, this is carried out through a normative and principle-oriented philosophical analysis of public decision-making practices, as well as the epistemic foundations of social work.
A central concern in professional ethics is the consequences that the exercise of discretion has for the rights and legal security of the parties affected. Through three articles, the project analyzes and addresses key issues related to discretion, narration and documentation in social work practice.
The articles contribute to increased knowledge about the challenges associated with discretion and narrativity in Nav specifically, and in social work more broadly, and identify concrete measures that can strengthen the legal rights of clients.
A guiding question of the dissertation is whether an excessively wide discretionary space, combined with the narratively structured practices of social work, may cause epistemic injustice – that is, situations in which clients’ status as knowers of their own situation is undermined.
Research questions
- What causes epistemic injustice in social work, and how can it be counteracted?
- How is social workers’ access to clients’ life stories structured?
- How does narrativity influence the exercise of legal discretion?
- What is the social ontological status of administrative legal decisions?
Supervisor: Professor Andreas Eriksen
Co-supervisor: Professor Emeritus Anders Molander.
