Juridification in the welfare sector: challenging professional discretion?

This project aims to shed light on how juridification processes influence the discretion of welfare professions and, by extension, their ability to provide welfare services of high quality.

Juridification, i.e., the transfer of power to courts and court-like actors and the expansion of legal rules into new areas, is a central feature of contemporary welfare governance.

According to previous research, juridification, such as judicial review, individual rights, and detailed rules, have the potential to both weaken and strengthen the position and discretion of welfare professions.

However, there is a lack of knowledge about what types of juridification processes take place in different welfare sectors and how professions have responded to them, making it difficult to know how juridification influences professional discretion.

To fill this research gap, the project investigates the types of juridification processes in three welfare sectors in Sweden: education, health care, and social care.

The project also studies how different welfare professions, as collective actors, respond to juridification processes in their sectors.

The materials and methods consist of content analysis of statutes, government bills, public inquiries, responses to referrals, and interviews with representatives from occupational organizations in the welfare sector.