Abstract
This chapter studies the effects of the welfare crisis and the transformations that have occurred in social work, applying a street-level perspective. The decision-making process of caseworkers is analysed by examining field research conducted in a north-eastern region of Italy on the recent implementation of the minimum income measure. The research involved around 200 social service caseworkers. It highlights how they are dealing with the changes, interpreting and reinterpreting the space they have for discretion. Specifically, they are providing their own interpretations of some new and rather undefined key concepts, such as personalisation, activation, social support, and pacts with beneficiaries, introducing needed flexibility and learning by doing to absorb the change.
This chapter is the result of a joint work and exchange between the authors. However, paragraphs 1, 2, 3, and 5 shall be attributed to Tatiana Saruis and paragraph 4 shall be attributed to Stella Volturo.
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Saruis, T., Volturo, S. (2020). Welfare Transformation and Social Work: A Learning-by-Doing Process Looking for New Balances. In: S.M., S., Baikady, R., Sheng-Li, C., Sakaguchi, H. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Work Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39966-5_60
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