Abstract
The chapter describes the nature of legitimacy problems in democratic welfare work and how global economics, bureaucracy, system efficiency and individualization reinforce them. These processes increase the individuals’ dependence on the systems and the demands on professionals to develop better communicative skills to deal with the problems. Habermas’s theories of communicative action, law and moral provide tools for identifying and rectifying these legitimacy deficits. An illustration from the practice shows how the analysis reveals critical moments in the interaction between clients and professionals. Earlier attempts by Lipsky to handle legitimacy and later criticism of bureaucracy from Rockman, Honneth and others are also presented as well as the basic requirements for a communication that can meet these challenges.
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Kihlström, A. (2020). Introduction: Legitimacy Deficit. In: Communicative Legitimacy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54949-7_1
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