
Malin Åkerström
Professor emerita

Doing ambivalence: Embracing policy innovation - At arm's length
Author
Summary, in English
This article considers the social organization of responses among human service staff to changes in public policy, using a study of a Swedish treatment center for juveniles as an illustration. The stance toward a new treatment ideology, "family-work," was not one of either accepting or rejecting the new policy; the staff conveyed both embracing and distancing. Policy innovations, it is argued, create conditions that work as a catalyst for "doing ambivalence, " an accommodative rhetoric that integrates the new and subtly expresses reservations.
Department/s
- Sociology
Publishing year
2006
Language
English
Pages
57-74
Publication/Series
Social Problems
Volume
53
Issue
1
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Topic
- Sociology (excluding Social Work, Social Psychology and Social Anthropology)
Status
Published
Research group
- Kriminal- och socialvetenskapligt nätverk
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0037-7791