Social workers' attitudes to privatization in five countries

Abstract

Summary European welfare states have been subject to significant restructuring including a general trend towards downsizing the role of the state, and to a greater extent engaging other actors in social policy and social services. While comparative welfare research often overlooks the distinction between for-profit and non-profit actors, third sector research emphasizes the different logics underlying these two types of non-state actors. The purpose of this article was to analyse Nordic and Italian social workers' attitudes towards a greater involvement of for-profit and non-profit actors in social work. The empirical base for the study is nation-wide surveys among social workers in four Nordic countries and in Italy answered by a total of 8,272 social workers. Findings In general, social workers perceived privatization in terms of for-profit organizations more critically than privatization through voluntary sector actors. Their attitudes towards privatization were only partly connected to which welfare model they worked within. Age and working sector of the respondents were other factors of significance. An important finding was that there are different explanatory factors behind positive attitudes towards for-profit and non-profit privatization, which indicate that social workers do not interpret the role of for-profit and non-profit organizations in the same way. Application The article shows that reforms involving subsidiarization, privatization and marketization of social welfare services should take account of the different logics underlying for-profit and non-profit actors and the different levels of trust that these actors enjoy among practitioners.