Community work at the urban periphery: searching for legitimacy

Abstract

The restructuring of public welfare provision across Europe in recent decades has brought new actors into the governance of welfare and social work practice, including non-profit organizations.In Sweden, the role of non-profit organizations in social service provision has been less significant than that of profit-oriented enterprises.Despite a continuing shift towards greater welfare pluralism, non-profit organizations engaging in social work find themselves struggling to find their own spaces and legitimacy.This article examines two organizations engaging in community work at the peripheries of the Stockholm metropolitan area, focusing on how they understand, perform, and communicate their roles as both civil society actors and social work providers.Our data demonstrate that the organizations have developed different legitimation strategies related to their understanding of what type of organization they are and what type of work they do.Furthermore, despite some differences in their perceptions of the underpinnings of community work, both organizations make an important contribution to developing community work in Sweden as a collective practice binding local communities together with mutual support and the sharing of knowledge and identity.

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