Hiphop - ett hippt hopp för socialt arbete

The purpose of this study was to examine social projects that use hip hop as a youth activity and illustrate how staff members in such projects can reason about the importance of hip hop. The investigation was limited to three social projects in Malmö Sweden, and the study was based on interviews. The aim was to answer the questions: ·How does the project staff legitimize hip hop as a youth activity in these projects? ·Which beliefs about youth issues are conveyed in these projects? The interviewees portrayed hip hop as a useful mean to link people together, an activity where people with different ethnicities and social backgrounds can meet through dance and music. The staff seemed to have a will to meet the youths interest and need of projects with hip hop as a focus. It was also portrayed as a useful tool to help young people process and work through different kinds of problems, such as exclusion in terms of unjust social structures, and also normal teenage problems. Key words: hip hop, social work, social projec