Doing Ambivalence: Embracing Innovation – at Arm’s Length
Author
Summary, in English
This article considers the social organization of responses among human service staff to changes in public policy, using a study of a Swedish treatment center for juveniles as an illustration. The stance towards a new treatment ideology, “family-work,” was not one of either accepting or rejecting the new policy; the staff conveyed both embracing and distancing. Policy innovations, it is argued, create conditions that work as a catalyst for “doing ambivalence,” an accommodative rhetoric that integrates the new and delicately express reservations.
Department/s
Publishing year
2006
Language
English
Pages
57-74
Publication/Series
Social Problems
Volume
53
Issue
1
Full text
- Available as PDF - 180 kB
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Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Topic
- Sociology (excluding Social Work, Social Psychology and Social Anthropology)
Keywords
- rhetoric
- rehabilitation
- youth center
- sociologi
- juvenile delinquents
- care
- organizational changes
- family care
- sociology
Status
Published
Research group
- Kriminal- och socialvetenskapligt nätverk
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0037-7791