Editorial: special issue on community work and going glocal in Scandinavian Welfare States

In this introduction we argue that present-day Scandinavian community work, e.g. the small-scale local bottom-up approaches to contemporary societal challenges, can make valuable contributions to global sustainability and our common future by facilitating creativity, joy, and communitas. By highlighting joy and creativity for social change, this Special Issue underscores the interconnectedness between global challenges and happiness, concepts when paired add new tools to the community worker’s toolbox. The argument is substantiated by a discussion of the common denominators in the eight different cases of practical community work from Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, and the theoretical discussion of the role of the civil society in developed welfare states included in this Special Issue. The introduction to this Special Issue commences with a recapitulation of the ‘rebirth’ of community work in Norway after 2000, followed by a discussion of creativity, joy and communities. The next two sections present the generative themes emerging for the collected articles and discuss the challenges ahead. The last section briefly introduces the articles and shows how they answer the call for new theoretical and practical tools and approaches for the future community worker. Community work, as a practical and theoretical approach to social change, is currently the focus of renewed interest in the Nordic countries (Hutchinson, 2009; Larsen, Sewpaul and Hole, 2014). Since the 1970s, community work has been one of three major approaches in social work: individual social work, group based social work, and community work. The majority of community workers have been social workers, and their activities and projects were often motivated by political standpoints, and activism towards social injustice, as in the UK (Ledwith, 2011; Larsen, Sewpaul and Hole, 2014; Newman and Clarke, 2016). In Scandinavia, community work as a theoretical or practical subject has not been included in the curriculums for professions other than social work, whether in learning disability nursing, teacher education, health professions or correctional services. All programmes educating professionals into the welfare state’s work force focus on the importance of multidisciplinary cooperation, and interdisciplinary common knowledge, but few provide theoretical or practical tools for accomplishing these aims. From our vantage point, community work is an underused theoretical and practical approach to contemporary challenges faced by the Nordic welfare states. Furthermore, we claim that multidisciplinary approaches will strengthen community work’s relevance – whether the aim is health promotion, neighbourhood renewal or to support communities of interest. Internationally, community work was never understood to be an exclusive method for social work (Turunen, 2004). While the English concept of community work is familiar across the English-speaking world, the corresponding Scandinavian concepts of samfunnsarbeid (Norwegian and Danish) and samhällsarbete (Swedish) are seldom used, or understood, outside the realm of Nordic social work. However, the practice of community work – as community planning and development, area development, neighbourhood renewal, social mobilization, self-help organization, or participatory learning and research, are well known. Today national official reports and white papers, and global strategies on sustainability, food security, health, and welfare are challenging all professions, NGOs and civil society to appropriate collective action to reach common benefits or to instigate and sustain social change. Paradoxically, in Scandinavia, as in the rest of the Western world, the neoliberal wave favours individualization, evidence-based approaches, and rapid solutions and ‘value for money’ – much of which is at odds with basic values of community work (Ledwith, 2011; Popple, 2015). The symbolic rebirth of Scandinavian community work was manifested by the launch of the first Scandinavian cross-disciplinary Master’s programme in community work at the former Bergen University College in 2007, now part of Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. The Scandinavian network of community workers contributed with support and ‘sponsorship’ since the birth of the idea at the turn of the twenty first century. By January 2018, nearly eighty students have completed the two-year programme, equivalent of 120 ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System), and many have taken sixty ECTS in community work and contemporary social theory. The majority of the students are Norwegians or residents in Norway (immigrants), with a few exceptions for students from the UK and Tanzania, China, and Spain. The programme has welcomed students with a diverse range of backgrounds, e.g. health care professionals (nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, health promotion), educators and teachers (all levels of education), and social workers and social educators. In addition to students with a background in applied sciences, students with qualifications in the humanities and social sciences have been enroled. This amalgam of experiences and interests have been challenging and rewarding for students and staff alike. The authors of this Special Issue have been affiliated to an extended network of the Masters’ programme in community work at Bergen University College/Western Norway university of Applied Sciences. We invited teachers, lectures, researchers, students, external evaluators and collaborators in the Nordic countries to submit articles on Scandinavian/Nordic community work which could be of interest to an English readership. We appreciate the effort made by many to answer our call for papers and are happy that we are able to present this edited supplement to the Community Development Journal. The foundation stone for the Bergen version of community work is an understanding of humans as creative and capable of evaluating their own situation, envisioning an alternative, orienting themselves towards other people and their environment, and capable of acting and interacting accordingly – either by themselves or by delegating agency to assistants, friends, next-of-kin or others. We have defined community work as the process of inquiring into and affecting conditions for social participation together with those concerned (Henriksbø and Sudmann, 2011). As this issue will demonstrate, the interconnectedness between humans, non-human living beings, place and materiality, have the potential to affect living conditions and conditions for social participation – for better or for worse. Community work is collaboration – which by definition counters individualization and ‘quick fixes’. The fields of public health and integration, social inequality, climate change, loss of biodiversity and sustainable development, are pre-eminent cases for community work. Community work is an appropriate response once problems, solutions or implementations are defined in political and/or collective terms (Hutchinson, 2009: 32; McDermott, 2014; Shaw, 2014). However, community work is also an appropriate response to violations of microscale citizen participation – e.g. in the field of dementia care, service design and delivery for people living with intellectual disabilities, or other human services (Sudmann and Børsheim, 2017; Sudmann and Folkestad, 2015; Gubrium, Andreassen and Solvang, 2016). Violation or neglect of children and young people’s right to participation or to exercise their citizenship rights, is also a case for community work, not at least because the solutions chosen for today’s global challenges directly impact their everyday and their future. The common denominator between global challenges and everyday microinteraction is our interdependency. People, non-human living beings and the Earth are entangled beyond our imaginary capacity. Market forces cannot solve all problems arising from population growth, population ageing, migration, non-communicable diseases, social inequalities, climate changes, or large-scale catastrophes. Welfare states and civil societies need to reverse or restrain marketization in the wake of spreading neoliberalism (Harvey, 2005, 2007; Fraser, 2009; Knutsen, 2017), to create or sustain safe and healthy living and sustainable development. Contemporary calls for active citizenship, user involvement in service design and delivery, revived democracy, self-organized self-help, neighbourhood mobilization, strengthening social cohesion or saving public spending, necessitate social interaction, trust and accessible and existing community owned land and commons. Community work can contribute with knowledge production through research, and with practical tools for sustainable changes on all levels. The Nordic welfare states are partly born out of bottom-up mobilization, local uprisings and social movements. The labour movement, the temperance movement, the lay Christian movements, the first wave of feminism and the linguistic communities (e.g. Sami, Finish, Romani, Nynorsk Norwegian, Sign languages) were important forerunners for welfare states, and still serve as inspiration and source of knowledge for contemporary social movements, e.g. environmental movements, or local mobilization calling for or protesting against new infrastructure (e.g. roads, bridges, tunnels, transmission lines). Despite the fact that welfare states are a result of historical conflicts of interests, one of the hallmarks of modern day Nordic welfare societies is a low level of overt social unrest, a relatively high living standard, a high labour force participation, generous universal benefits, a high degree of equality, a high level of taxes and a high level of public spending on welfare (Greve, 2007). Nordic welfare states still appear prosperous and generous, facing fewer social challenges than many other European countries. Nordic welfare states face the same demographic changes as the rest of the Western world: longevity, decreasing birth rates, growing number of single person households, and expected increased needs for health and social services in the near future. A welfare mix (Sivesind, 2014) – i.e. welfare services provided by both public, private and voluntary sector – is already gaining momentum in Scandinavia. At a macro level, social problems or barriers for exercising citizenship may seem conspicuously absent or few in Scandinavia. However, at the micro level, the differences in life expectancy, health status and other socioeconomic differences are larger than might be expected in the Nordic welfare states. Differences in living years and in healthy years varies considerably between north and south, between city boroughs, and between indigenous people or other minorities on the one hand, and the majorities on the other hand (Popham, Dibben and Bambra, 2013). Health and societal differences can be experienced as particularly unfair or burdensome in societies were equality is a common value and ideology. These differences are recognized as unfair and unwanted by the polity and the public, and several community work projects aim at amending these inequalities, whereof some are presented in this Special Issue. The Masters candidates from Bergen are equipped with a theoretical and a practical toolbox when they graduate. The theoretical tool box includes critical approaches to the analysis of social participation, inequality, social change, and inclusive research. The practical tool box includes methods to facilitate social, material, organizational or relational changes, and to make a positive difference in people’s everyday lives, together with those concerned. Following Minkler, Wallerstein, Wilson (2008) the hallmarks of community work is to facilitate empowerment and critical consciousness, community capacity and social capital, issue selection, participation and to make our work relevant (Minkler, Wallerstein and Wilson, 2008:294). Change, whether social or material, builds on more or less substantiated ideas about a better deal or future. Critical consciousness is necessary to detect and disarm our ‘Cop in your head’, as Freire called our self-censoring and unconscious acceptance of unfavourable life situations (Freire, 1972). was of in in that when is to be is to out the 2014). was by Freire (Freire, and the of of the and as a of to launch a programme, The of the to facilitate and in the of to make the city a and better place to By with that is and is and food for and new which in turn might facilitate social and of in everyday microinteraction affect the macro levels. the for social by of an approach also applied in several of the cases presented in this issue are invited to out of their and in activities in The Masters programme in community work in Bergen since on creativity and the as important theoretical and practical tools for the community worker. has a in the of social or – e.g. as methods or as action and as future is gaining new as are methods as critical action research, action and design and 2009; and 2014; and 2016). is with joy or and and a and about the importance of joy and and of in about the health of our and all and that one can but can we as for a an or a we will joy and and also add value to the of the living conditions on Earth and 2014). and both to the as a for learning and critical our the and and In the and the authors present a about how to make ideas into practice or The to are to and as many different as and to and to and be and – e.g. be or to the in our and to work and with our learning in and of or is which several of the articles in this Special Issue The the concept of or to how we the and how we and in with people with not a common By on the of micro and and is a theoretical of that with difference or is necessary for learning and of intellectual or facilitate of and a different future 2015; All authors in this issue are their and theoretical to with or difference and to the importance of a and generous of the are and social the social sciences at the between the and social are taken into to an The is our public which can be against e.g. the the or with intellectual all The is also the for social interaction, and for and critical shows how and can with the and people for and and particularly and and and support of critical consciousness, learning and The work in a city for an or a creativity and critical This issue several of how social and movement, a relatively in community work. of theoretical or community work in human and and in the and between humans, non-human and The concept community is and to and often a understanding of community as generous, and the concept of community is As will be in the the authors the concept community through their about how non-human life and place affect about how they are and how different facilitate or social change. In this we the concept to to the of these and – and to their and is a developed by to a society a that is or Following between several of communitas. of these is of interest to community work, which is often in the of a or states that for are life in the and of can also from as from The to to and the and of also the of and for of can be in future action or in and or by with or all approaches presented in this Following a number for as joy and the of of may to with as and experiences of that and all of a of and the of human discussion of to the idea work by to be understood that as is an of the which with the with ideas in our our or We are to new and that we can work and well with is a of the as a for work. The idea of is well for a discussion of how to and community work as a or practice The and of is in several of the projects presented in this Freire the of situations and generative to to or experiences which interests or and on which people were to to and Freire and as the or global generative and can be at all levels of and people as i.e. particularly situations or experiences and 2013). of situations are when people themselves as or to or make a difference in a social These experiences of and social are work life or by or by public service or civil society at Community work is through and by in everyday life and a understanding of microinteraction and is of value when in the can be and is the of for issue or of a common understanding of the at hand and the to make social or and While together this Special three concepts or themes as particularly materiality, and These concepts are gaining in several The of these concepts is their to the between humans, non-human place and the health of our for our common and We are to to our and environment, and these are affect other and create and affect as concept for community work, underscores the fact that effort to create social a much number of or the importance of for themselves and their about the interconnectedness of social taken to better the health of the or the conditions for human and non-human be i.e. The Freire for contributions to critical and for to as a to for the collective of human and to social the is on an political that the of as neoliberalism and has as one of the of relevant of This turn towards shows the relevance of the generative materiality, and The environment, whether social or a is social and material, and and in the As an to neoliberal on values and the of all life on the can be made across and can be of or one or experiences difference in or we are an to as different from – but still the of the cases in this issue shows how our and and The of articles in this issue that is an need to global and – to We to to a few challenges emerging from our collected which also are of to community work and outside the Nordic countries. challenges are to young people’s The and the also on the conditions for our in not with a sustainable development. and argue that our from to can support a sustainable future that the interconnectedness of life and and an which is made of creative of and work across existing and in In their environmental social work to create and sustain a social work practice and with The practical and theoretical approaches chosen in the projects presented in this issue can be as part of a towards and of place and are in all instigate social change, we have to that a different future is when are major to our of the need for a new and the of life themselves into a one for life – that of In that the to of in a practice that life – that the the the and the and the (Freire, be able to be with The approach by and can creativity and joy, and underscores the importance of local to can be to to in with and to and and and and These are not to be to the new argue that important values and can be in new social work to create and a social work and knowledge can be to social change, to to and environmental and has our critical about to community workers and to 2014). Community work is to create and design for learning and Freire the need to and to of in those of less the fact in that this of has taken place how is that we for more as for the life of human beings, the life of other of and for the life of and not in and human beings, we not capable of the has importance at the of this century. be present in practice of a and (Freire, In the of community work. and the the changes place in our and the future role of community work. that we outside the community work approaches and to new tools and are and and collective The articles in this Special Issue contribute in different to the relevance of and collective as well as the relevance of creativity, joy, and as in Scandinavian community work. answer the call for new tools and this issue that and provide a new for community work – both and The theoretical from and new and towards the interconnectedness of and the for the into community work and 2013). is in often outside everyday and out or our and The three first articles in this Special Issue by and and and Sudmann, and and and cases of and children and young people in the and aim of the work. All three articles how children and young people’s contributions to not to or ahead. The case of is an of how a of were to a area for children and young people in in Norway, an area which developed into a to their The in community in Norway, collective and individual in for their public The young people their with other and the the to their care and in in Sweden, is an approach to with young people living in part of the collective affect the the importance of our challenges and As with the young people in the communities of their The next three articles the of collective learning and in i.e. communities which is and by collective and shows how the students of community work in work as part of the out of the experiences for students and staff and value to the learning the learning of the Master’s and present and concepts of a learning to how the community are by and affect the with intellectual are in in case from in Norway, residents have in from to create their own is an of how and life in the in the All these communities are and the authors how be and The last three articles discuss different of the welfare by two of how social in this the indigenous Sami, and are understood and or While experiences from the of people with disabilities, shows how with create an for welfare services. is a theoretical to this the importance of an active civil society to and the welfare society is defined as a of for bottom-up and the welfare the conditions for creativity and joy for social change. Community work in has from the of the in the We that the and emerging from is of interest to the English-speaking of this Special Issue. We are on of community work and our common future. As a in – how the Sudmann is a and social with a from of Health and at the University of interest is to how people their to their and social participation, whether the are or and are towards social in health and is a social with a from the University of Since is a in community work at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. Since has been in work through the in as an by and strengthening of social the other interests are with social movements, disability research, and to our and for the first years of our Master’s programme, and for contributions and to this Special Issue. to the of for the to this Special Issue and for valuable and on the Western Norway University of Applied