Sociale kompetencer, selvarbejde og det sociale arbejdes alligevel omsorgsfulde praksis

Resumé

Artiklen analyserer den stigende interesse for sociale kompetencer i lyset af et etnografisk feltarbejde på en daghøjskole i en større dansk provinsby. Den overordnede forskningsstrategi er adaptiv, idet den søger at fremanalysere såvel muligheder som problemer ved det teoretiske afsæt. Der tages udgangspunkt i teorier om governmentality, teorier om en ny form for kapitalisme samt et kritisk magtperspektiv på socialt arbejde. I tillæg hertil udfoldes begrebet om selvarbejde, som udgør et forsøg på at begribe det arbejde på og med selvet, der foregik på daghøjskolen. Analysen viser, at det er muligt at skelne mellem intrasubjektivt og intersubjektivt selvarbejde. Derpå diskuteres det empiriske materiale i forhold til artiklens teoretiske afsæt. Det vises, at selvarbejdet til en vis grad har karakter af governmental styring, men at der samtidig indgår et omsorgsmoment, som vanskelig kan begribes ud fra magtkritiske perspektiver, ligesom relationerne mellem socialarbejdere og kursister i nogen grad var præget af rummelighed og ligeværdige relationer. På denne baggrund diskuteres om selvarbejdet også kan forstås som et bidrag til kvalificering af socialt nødstedte mennesker hverdagsliv. ENGELSK ABSTRACT: Sune Qvotrup Jensen: Social Competences, Self-Work, and Social Work’s Caring Practice This article analyses the growing interest in social skills and is based on eth-nographic field work at a daghøjskole (day institution for people with social problems) in a small Danish town. The overall research strategy is adaptive, as it attempts to clarify both the potentials and the problems of the theoretical approaches. The theoretical points of departure are theories of governmentality, theories of new capitalism as well as a power critical perspective of social work. In addition a concept of ”self-work” is developed in an attempt to grasp the work on and with the self that the service users did at the daghøjskole. The analysis shows that it is possible to distinguish between intra-subjective and intersubjective self-work. Then the empirical material is analyzed in relation to the theoretical points of departure. The analysis shows that self-work can in part be characterized as neoliberal conduct of conduct but there are also elements of care in the social work that are difficult to grasp within a power critical perspective. Furthermore the relation between social workers and social service users were characterized by inclusion and symmetry. The article then discusses whether self-work can also be understood as a contribution to qualifying the everyday life of socially vulnerable citizens. Keywords: social skills, power, care, self-work, social work, the self.