Institutionalization of Social Welfare A Study of Medicalizing Management

Today most countries rely on formally organized welfare programs - in some cases to the extent that they are labeled "welfare states". These programs, which have been constructed over the last decades, make up a larger national and international system of good intentions. In many countries there is a more or less formalized expectation to help the impaired, the sick, the elderly and other "needy persons" to participate more fully in the economic, social, and cultural life of society. Overall, it appears inconceivable to imagine "civilized society" without a comprehensive organizational system of social welfare. When social welfare programs are seen as challenged, the general reaction is therefore often one of resistance and defense of the present order. Social welfare has become a "holy cow" in many societies; an institutionalized aspect of modern life. But how does the institutionalization of social welfare occur through the concrete activities it enacts; and why does the institutionalization of social welfare appear to be so particularly successful in relation to other institutionalizing phenomena? These are central problems for any sociological analysis of contemporary society's organization and are the main locus of attention of this book.Holmqvist explores how a social welfare organization becomes a self-evident phenomenon by "medicalizing" its environment: a way of "solving" social problems by viewing and treating them as medical problems. This study generates new understandings of how institutionalization of organizations comes about and contributes fresh insight to the area of social welfare policies.Holmqvist, Mikael is the author of 'Institutionalization of Social Welfare A Study of Medicalizing Management', published 2007 under ISBN 9780415958028 and ISBN 0415958024.