Vem vill ha Adam och Monika? : En kvantitativ vinjettstudie om tolkningar av vistelsebegreppet på 12 socialjourer i Sverige

The aim of this study was to explore how social workers interpret the part of the Swedish social services act that regulates each municipality’s responsibility of the people staying in it. The study’s general methodological approach connects to sociology of law. The research questions were: (1) What factors are considered important by the social workers in assessments of responsible municipality? (2) Are there variations in the assessments of responsible municipality and in that case; how can the variations be explained? (3) What discretion do the social workers consider that they have in assessments of responsible municipality? Previous studies have found considerable differences in professional social work assessments in Sweden. 69 social workers completed a questionnaire which included two vignettes. The selection maintained the emergency social services for well above 4 million citizens. Many factors were considered important in assessments of responsible municipality; the most prominent of those was the physical presence in the municipality. Variations appeared especially regarding long-term decisions and could partially be explained by which factors were considered important. The law that regulates the area of interest is a detailed legislation. However, some explanation could be found in Lipskys (2010) theory of Street-level bureaucracy