Social assistance and local society : An exploratory study about low costs of social assistance in Säffle township

The purpose of this study is to illustrate if structural factors to welfare indicators and the internal organisation of handle social assistance in combination with dominating ways of living with their values and norms can be used to explain why the costs of social assistance are low in Säffle township. The character of this study is exploratory, though important aspects in this case was unknown. The empiricism come from descriptive secondary statistics and from qualitative interwievs with three inhabitants in Säffle, whom are experts which means they know the township of Säffle and it´s inhabitants well. Säffle has been studied from four perspectives, of which the first two have a top- or macroperspective. In the study appears two divergent pictures. In the first macroperspective, the planning perspective, are several structural factors that used to imply high costs of social assistance. The level of education is low in Säffle, and the unemployment is high, especially among the young people. However there are positive structural factors that seem to counteract or ease the effects of the negative factors. The character of Säffle is high promotion of Self-employed and farmers. The high promotion of self-employed and farmers and their traditions of supply from many sources can be important reasons for the inhabitants of Säffle getting by without asking for help at the public institutions. In the second macroperspective, that focus on individual welfare indicators, the study shows that the inhabitants of Säffle have a low level of ill health respect several of the welfare indicators. In the mesoperspective the study shows that causes to low costs of social assistance in Säffle are not to be found in organisation or methods for handle the social assistance. The study indicates in a microperspective that the inhabitants in Säffle may have a traditional way of being and have values and norms that it is worthily to fend for oneself in exposed situations and that it is unworthy to ask for social assistance. The informants tell that the privat social relations of the inhabitants in Säffle indicates a divided place with solid groups hard to break. If there are norms and values in the group that says it is unworthy to ask for social assistance, though you might be entitled, there is a strong reason not to ask for social assistance. Though my empiricism about the norms and values of the inhabitants in Säffle are limited, the area is important and interesting for further studies. The social services in Säffle should look for better processing routines for handling the social assistance and to develop and improve the information about rights and obligations for the social assistance. Increasing costs for social assistance in Säffle hereafter would be motivated because of the non take up of social assistance that probably exists in Säffle