Juridification in the welfare sector: challenging professional discretion?
This project investigates how juridification processes, such as increased judicial review powers for courts and court-like actors and the expansion of legal rules to new areas, affect the discretion of those working in the welfare sectors of education, healthcare, and social care.
Details
- Period: 2025-01-01 – 2027-12-31
- Budget: 4,133,949 SEK
- Funder: Riksbankens jubileumsfond
Description
Juridification, in the form of judicial review, individual rights, and detailed regulations, can weaken or strengthen the welfare professions' discretion. However, we lack knowledge about what types of juridification processes exist within the different welfare sectors and how they affect the professions.
This project, therefore, investigates what juridification processes occur within three welfare sectors in Sweden: school, healthcare, and social care. The project also studies how different welfare professions, as a collective, react to juridification processes within their respective sectors. The material and methods consist of content analysis of statutes, bills, public investigations, consultation responses, and interviews with representatives from the member organizations of the welfare professions.