‘It might be better if you did not use your energy in that way’: dilemmas of voicing service users’ lived experiences for social work change

This article focuses on how lived experiences of service users in vulnerable positions play a role in political processes aimed at bringing about change in social work and social services in a strong public welfare society, as in Denmark. In Denmark and other Nordic welfare societies, citizen-led and collective initiatives outside traditional welfare state institutions tend to emerge these days as reactions to experiences of social injustice in the social systems. This article explores these actions in Denmark and how lived experiences are used collectively to drive social work change. The analysis is based on fifteen qualitative interviews with activists from different citizen-led actions within the Horizon Europe project ‘Increasing Responsiveness to Citizen Voice in Social Services across Europe (RESPONSIVE)’ (2023–2026). The findings point out how lived experiences are a significant part of the action repertoire that various actors draw upon when performing contentious politics, and how they are used collectively to exert influence. Furthermore, the findings illuminate five pertinent and interrelated dilemmas when lived experiences are used to push for social change. The dilemmas are illustrated and discussed and call attention to why impact of using service users’ lived experiences for social work change is often limited.