Vem är den hjälpbehövande - En kvalitativ studie av hur mottagaren av kommersiellt socialt arbete framställs

The phenomena of social work in an international commercial volunteering context is common today and steadily growing. This essay focuses on how the recipient of social work, the characteristics of social work and the relation between the recipient of social work and the social worker is portrayed in a commercial social work context. The essay uses a critical discourse analysis inspired by Fairclough for analyzing two marketing texts and 15 project descriptions published by companies marketing international social work volunteering. The social work that this study focuses on is often taking place in social projects in Asia, Latin America and Africa. By combining social constructivism and a postcolonial perspective as basis for a theoretical framework, this study shows that the recipient of commercial social work is portrayed as a passive object and placed in a dependent position to the western volunteer. Regarding the social work, this essay demonstrate how social work is transformed from a profession to a basic level, rather than requiring academic and/or practical background, as is common in a Swedish context. It is suggested that commercial, voluntary social worker has interest, time and empathy in order to meet the needs of the recipients