Forfatter: franro

About the project

In this project we investigate the use of data-driven technologies in welfare services. We compare people who receive unemployment benefits with offenders under electronic monitoring in Norway and the Netherlands and focus on the way data-driven technologies are used and what sociotechnical imaginaries drive the introduction and implementation of data-driven technologies in welfare services.

We complement this with mobile ethnography where welfare recipients themselves collect and analyze data about their experiences with data-driven technologies (and surveillance) and to understand what a good use of data-driven technologies would mean for them. The project is a postdoctoral project.

You can read more about the project here: Can we strive for justice within surveillance systems? Introducing the JUSST Project – Nordic Research Council for Criminology

We would like to collaborate with master students interested in writing about this theme

Methods

Methods can be both qualitative and quantitative. My own project adheres to the principles of collaborative action research and is qualitative in nature, but I have sufficient knowledge of quantitative methods to supervise students who prefer this.

Possible research questions

Welfare conditionality: a comparison between Norway and the Netherlands

1. How do Norway and the Netherlands implement welfare conditionality, and what are the key similarities and differences in their approaches?
2. What are the social and economic impacts of welfare conditionality on vulnerable populations in Norway and the Netherlands?
3. How do cultural attitudes towards welfare and work influence the design and acceptance of welfare conditionality in these two countries?
4. To what extent does welfare conditionality affect long-term social mobility in Norway and the Netherlands?
5. How do political ideologies shape the framing and execution of welfare conditionality in Norway and the Netherlands?

Risk predictions and social sorting in Norwegian welfare services

1. How do predictive algorithms influence decision-making processes in Norwegian welfare services?
2. What are the ethical implications of risk predictions for social sorting in the Norwegian welfare system?
3. To what extent do risk prediction tools contribute to biases or inequalities in welfare service delivery in Norway?
4. How are beneficiaries’ perceptions of fairness impacted by the use of risk predictions in Norwegian welfare services?
5. What safeguards can be implemented to ensure transparency and accountability in the use of risk prediction tools within Norwegian welfare services?

Electronic monitoring of offenders in Norway

1. What are the psychological and social effects of electronic monitoring on offenders and their families in Norway?
2. What are the legal and ethical challenges associated with the implementation of electronic monitoring in Norway?

Relevant for

Social Work and Nordic Social Policy, Global Sustainable Development and MIS.

Number of students: 3

Contact person

Marijke Roosen, maroo2167@oslomet.no

Project background

Since the 1970s European societies have undergone significant transformation. Labour markets and family structures have become more instable. International economic competition associated with globalisation have intensified, and the consequences of expected demographic trends have put welfare institutions, like social protection systems and eldercare, under pressure. These developments have underpinned the emergence of new kinds of social risks. Therefore, in the 1990s and the 2000s much of the comparative welfare state literature was concerned with how welfare states could and should respond to these changes. How could governments ensure the economic and social sustainability of advanced welfare states?

A quarter of a century into the new millennium the challenges of population ageing, instable labour markets and family structures have not disappeared, but they take place in a context of geopolitical tensions and strong political polarisation. Importantly, policy responses are further conditioned by the need to respond to the twin green and digital transition as new sources of social risks. Thus, in the 21^st century an important strand of social policy scholarship looks also at the ecological dimension when assessing how public policy manages social risks – one of the core tasks of modern welfare states. This is done in recognition of the fact that across the planet climate change and biodiversity loss increasingly threaten social well-being. 

About the project

We offer thesis supervision to MA students who would like to study the welfare state-climate change nexus theoretically and/or empirically.  

Examples of questions and themes that could be further developed in a thesis include (but are not limited to):

• More knowledge is needed about the implications of climate change and climate mitigation policy for the social risks which welfare states are designed to prevent or mitigate, such as poverty, unemployment or care needs. Put differently, how do climate change and associated public policies give rise to a new generation of social risks and to what extent does vulnerability to such risks vary across welfare regimes?
• Are the ‘old’ tools and institutions of social protection and welfare/social services sufficient to meet the social challenges linked to climate change/climate policy? What kind of new policy tools do welfare states need in response to climate change? These are questions relevant to the fields of social and labour market policy as well as social work.
• What implications does climate change have for the way welfare programmes are funded?
• The politics of eco-social policy: What social, ecological and economic interests and associated actor constellations and political institutions are mobilised in the political struggles over ecologically driven social risks and the ‘green’ transition at national and/or European level? How and why do these differ across countries or welfare regimes and with what consequences for policy output?
• What is the political potential for reforms that push welfare states in an ecologically ‘sustainable’ direction? This may involve a study of popular attitudes, political party/electoral manifestos or elite discourses.
• Are some welfare models or varieties of capitalism better at balancing long-term ecological and contemporary social concerns. If so, what are the mechanisms driving differential policy performances?
• How have hegemonic perspectives shaped imaginaries concerning the “sustainable Norwegian welfare state” historically and currently? In the face of climate change, how may welfare policy ideologies, policy development and policy “solutions” regarding welfare state sustainability reinforce such perspectives? How may we need to re-orient such perspectives in addressing climate change in a globally equitable way?
• We need further research on the normative and empirical dilemmas facing the Norwegian welfare state in the context of climate change and global social justice and how citizens perceive these. This kind of knowledge serves to understand better the implications of different choices when it comes to future institutional reforms in the fields of social and labour market policy. 

Methods and data sources

We invite you to employ suitable qualitative and/or quantitative methods depending on the chosen thematic focus and available data.

Examples of methods include single or (small-n) comparative case study approaches, using for instance, historical process tracing. By contrast, some research questions will be suited to quantitative techniques.

Data sources may include official policy documents, media statements, a small number of expert interviews, official statistics or individual attitude surveys.

Relevant for

This project is especially relevant for students in study options Social Work, Nordic Social Policy and Global Sustainable Development, and MIS.

Potential supervisors

Mi Ah Schoyen, NOVA

Therese Dokken, NOVA

Erika Gubrium, Department of Social Work, Child Welfare and Social Policy

Contact person

We encourage potentially interested students to contact Mi Ah Schoyen (miah.schoyen@oslomet.no) as soon as possible and to submit a short outline (1-2 pages) of preliminary interests and ideas along with a brief CV by 15 March 2024. You can write in either English or Norwegian.

We offer supervision to MA students who are interested in investigating questions relating to the impact of climate change and/or the digital transition on the role of the welfare state in general and of social services in particular.

Suitable candidates will get the opportunity to write their dissertation within the framework of the project ‘Sustainable Wellbeing through Investment in Social Services (SWINS)’, which is an international collaborative research project funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme. The project is coordinated by the University of Florence Prato (PIN), Italy, and NOVA/OsloMet is one of ten international partners in the project.

Objective

Focusing on the complementarity of services aimed at developing human capabilities throughout the lifespan, SWINS will explore the impacts of alternative social policy scenarios entailing different social services configurations (from maternal care and childcare to education and active labour market policy, up to long-term care).

SWINS conceptualises the returns to social services in terms of income, employment, and growth, and bridges knowledge gaps about how these investments influence macroeconomic stability and foster the sustainability transition performances in Europe.

OsloMet leads two project tasks relating to the role of social services in the transition to sustainable societies with wellbeing for all – focusing on climate change and digital transformation of society respectively. 

Project task 1) Social services in the transition towards ecologically sustainable wellbeing

First, we will examine what different strands of relevant literature say about three fundamental questions:

• Which goals (e.g., paid employment, needs satisfaction, individual wellbeing) and principles  of award (e.g. universality, reciprocity, need) should underpin future social services?
• Which formal and informal social services should the EU and national governments promote as instruments to foster the green transition?
• By whom should social services be provided and with what motivations?

Second, we will try to identify concrete empirical examples from across Europe of socio-ecological services, i.e. services that are explicitly designed to foster social wellbeing while keeping within planetary boundaries. 

Project task 2) Consequences of digital social services.

The task involves the analysis of digital access to social services (in kind and cash) across selected Member States and associated EEA countries. Also of interest is the link between digitalization of social services and their efficiency and quality. Furthermore, the analysis will include reflections on Matthew effects, not only concerning age and education but also institutional capacity and geographical disparities.

The analyses should lead to conclusions about the broader social and economic implications of digital transformation, guiding strategies to maximize its benefits and mitigate negative consequences.

Research Design

In terms of research design, we welcome both single country and (small-n) comparative case study approaches, based on secondary sources such as official statistics, policy documents, academic papers and, if relevant, a small number of expert interviews.

Relevant for

This project is especially relevant for Social Work and Nordic Social Policy and Global Sustainable Development / MIS. Students from other study options may also apply.

Potential supervisors

Mi Ah Schoyen, NOVA Norwegian Social Research

Rune Halvorsen, Department of Social Work, Child Welfare and Social Policy

Contact persons

We encourage potentially interested students to contact Mi Ah Schoyen (miah.schoyen@oslomet.no) and Rune Halvorsen (rune.halvorsen@oslomet.no) as soon as possible and to submit a short outline (1-2 pages) of preliminary interests and ideas along with a brief CV by 15 March 2024. You can write in either English or Norwegian.