Although recent studies have focused on homeless people, young offenders, and children and young people with a psy-diagnosis, research into the particular citizenship challenges faced by these groups, and vulnerable groups more generally, remains scarce.
Also lacking are empirical studies of spatially contextualized lived citizenship, and of the cultural, social and political practices that constitute it. Besides knowledge of how everyday interactions between social workers and clients shape vulnerable groups’ lived citizenship (relevant for social workers and politicians), such research can make a valuable contribution to citizenship theorizing.
This project helps to close current knowledge gaps. The ‘multi-sited’ research design enables a comparison of spatial dynamics and thus permits analysis of how space affects the interactions in which lived citizenship is shaped. This framework allows us to develop theory about those living on the edge of society both in the field of lived citizenship and in the field of social work. The project’s novelty lies in its comparison of discriminatory and inclusive spatial dynamics among different categories of clients that span both different institutional settings and the generational order dividing adulthood and childhood.
The project generates empirical and theoretical knowledge about barriers, dilemmas and opportunities for these three groups’ lived citizenship, as well as people at the edge more generally.
The sub-projects share an empirical focus on vulnerable groups and on the ways in which social work practices contribute to shaping their lived citizenship. This enables a unique comparative exploration of spatial dynamics, i.e. how the material and symbolic characteristics of particular social settings affect how lived citizenship is shaped through interactions. The sub-projects adhere to an overarching theoretical framework, but each also has its own specific theoretical angle, permitting rich theoretical exchange and furthering the project’s overall synergy.
Read more about the sub-projects here:
B. Reaching out, pulling in: creating citizens?
C. Learning to manage life – lived citizenship of children and young people with a psy-diagnosis
