Social Integration and New Realities in the Swedish Welfare Society

Social Work and Society

Norma Montesino¹ 

[1] Linné University;

关键词: consumption practices;    migration;    social integration;    transnational practices;    consumption strategies;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

This article argues that there is a discrepancy between the perceptionof social realities held by professionals of welfare (school teachersand social workers) in Sweden and the social realities of migrants,especially migrants depending on social assistance. The views held byprofessionals are rooted in an old model of social integration withinthe framework of the nation-state. This perception contrasts with thelife conditions, expressed here in the consumption practices of migrantfamilies who, in their daily life, are linked to both local andtransnational places. Consumption is an “old question” that has beenlinked both to poverty and immigration. The article is focusing not onconsumption as such; instead on consumption as an illustration of themismatch existing between the professionals’ view and the migrants’description of their own consumption. The analysis is based on aqualitative study including interviews with migrant families and welfareofficers in a neighbourhood in Malmoe, a city in the South of Swedenwith some 300,000 inhabitants, of which 29 % are born outside Sweden.

【 授权许可】

Unknown