"Kompleksitetskortet" og dets teoretiske baggrund i et naturalistisk perspektiv på socialretslæren-/metodikken

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Abstract

The author seeks, through this article, to place the concept of complexity within the framework of the theory of welfare law and argues with the same breath for making the “Complexity Map”, a key concept in the methodology of welfare law. The “Complexity Map” addresses the legal practice of social workers work- ing within the organizational context of the public welfare administration. The complexity map uses “legal formats” which is a well-known concept that forms a founding basis within the theory of welfare law. The legal formats must, however, find their more specific meaning and function within the theoretical framework which encompasses them. This article sets out how legal formats can function and be used within a theoretical framework that builds upon the core concept of complexity.
The theoretical reflections in this article draw upon experiences from a combined innovation and research project – Model for Socialretlig Udvikling og Læring – that was undertaken in cooperation with two danish municipalities from 2010 through 2013. The aim of the project – which the author carried out with colleague and senior lecturer Bente Adolphsen – was to contribute to an improved and more adequate professional practice within the field of social work that focused specifically on youth who have been subjected to unhealthy or dangerous situations in childhood. The assumption was and continues to be that this practice would improve if the law was a more integrated part of the action taken. As the research moved forward, it became much more clear that the legal challenge to the social worker could be described more precisely as
a challenge of complexity: That social work is not only complex, it should be complex. At the same time complexity must be managed. Reality demonstrates that the measures are too often problematic shortcuts and far too drastic.

To succeed in contributing to the maximum absorption of complexity in social work is an aim that requires clear-cut notions and distinctions. These can most likely be found in the theories where complexity and the management of complexity is given the highest analytical priority and ethical value. The process showed the researchers that the most giving theoretical perspective on the mat- ter is one that combines theories from two different disciplines: the advanced system theories from the sociology of law and pragmatic theories from the phi- losophy of law. This article argues that insights from these two sources ought to be combined under the heading “a naturalistic perspective on welfare law”.
In addition to giving new and productive opportunities to focus on and address the complexity of the practice of social welfare law, the naturalistic perspective offers a way to overcome a counter-productive dispute in theory welfare law, specifically the discussion regarding “old school” and “new school” approaches.
Keywords: Map of Complexity, Methodology of Welfare Law, Naturalistic Theory, Naturalistic Perspective, Pragmatism of Law, Theory of Systems, Social Work, Social Welfare Administration, Social Jurisprudence

Original languageDanish
JournalNordisk socialrättslig tidskrift
Issue number11-12
Pages (from-to)149-181
Number of pages32
ISSN2000-6500
Publication statusPublished - 12 Nov 2015

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