Talking about culture in social work encounters: immigrant families and child welfare in Finland

Abstract

This article aims at analysing the ways in which people talk about ‘culture’ in social work encounters involving child welfare in immigrant families. The empirical material includes conversations between immigrant clients, their social workers and co-operating professionals at six Finnish social service offices, as well as interviews with the persons participating in these meetings. The theoretical and methodological frames of reference are social constructionism and discourse analysis. The study suggests three ways in which the concept of ‘culture’ is used by social workers and their clients: firstly, as a means of explaining ‘the ordinary and normal ways’ of raising children; secondly, as ‘a difficulty’ in the interaction between social workers and clients; and thirdly, as ‘a methodical tool’ in creating dialogue with clients. As far as the practical implications for social work are concerned, it is emphasized that in order to avoid ethnocentric practice or ‘culturalization’ of problems, it is important for social workers to be conscious of the various meanings of ‘culture’ both in their own practice and in the ways their clients employ cultural symbolism.

Artikkelissa tarkastellaan kulttuurista puhumisen tapoja lastensuojelua koskevissa sosiaalityöntekijöiden ja maahanmuuttajataustaisten asiakkaiden välisissä keskusteluissa. Empiirinen materiaali koostuu asiakkaiden, heidän sosiaalityöntekijöidensä ja joidenkin muiden ammattilaisten välisistä keskusteluista sekä samojen henkilöiden haastatteluista. Aineisto on kerätty kuudessa suomalaisessa sosiaalitoimistossa. Tutkimuksen teoreettisia ja metodologisia lähtökohtia ovat sosiaalinen konstruktionismi ja diskurssianalyysi. Artikkelissa esitellään kolme tapaa, joilla etnisen kulttuurin käsitettä tai siihen viittaavia näkökulmia käytetään sosiaalityön keskusteluissa ja haastatteluissa. Ensinnäkin ”omaa kulttuuria” käytetään perustelemaan ”tavallisia” ja ”normaaleja” lastenkasvatus- tai elämäntapoja. Toiseksi ”kulttuurilla” selitetään ongelmia työntekijän ja asiakkaan välisessä vuorovaikutuksessa. Kolmanneksi sosiaalityöntekijä voi käyttää ”kulttuuria” metodisena välineenä tasapuolisen vuoropuhelun aikaansaamiseksi asiakkaan kanssa. Välttääkseen etnosentrisiä käytäntöjä ja ongelmien selittämistä kulttuurilla sosiaalityöntekijöiden olisi hyvä olla tietoisia ”kulttuurin” erilaisista merkityksistä ja rooleista sekä omissa käytännöissään että asiakkaiden elämässä ja tavoissa käyttää kulttuurista symbolismia.

Keywords:

• Multicultural Social Work
• Cross-cultural Social Work
• Immigrant Clients
• Child Welfare
• Qualitative Research
• monikulttuurinen sosiaalityö
• kulttuurienvälinen sosiaalityö
• maahanmuuttaja-asiakkaat
• lastensuojelu
• laadullinen tutkimus

Notes

Home address: Löytänänkatu 1 B 9, 20540 Turku, Finland. Tel.: [phone]; E-mail: [email protected]

In early 1980s, the proportion of foreign born population in Finland was only 0.3 % (Pohjanpää et al. 2003).

Quotation marks are used to refer to the conceptual meaning of the words.

The data was collected during the years 2000–2003. The QSR NUD∗IST 4 program was used for data processing. The codes in the quotes are for locating the text units in the data.

These three nationalities are amongst the largest immigrant and refugee groups in Finland (Pohjanpää et al. 2003).

Three families are from Vietnam and four from Somalia. They all have come to Finland as refugees. Four families have immigrated to Finland for various reasons, e.g. marriage. Two of them have emigrated from Estonia and two from Russia.

The clients were interviewed either in the social service offices immediately after the meetings or in their homes either a few days after the meeting had taken place or straight after the social worker's visit.

The conversation took place in Finnish. The father had been living in Finland for nine years and his children had moved to Finland a few years after him.

The square brackets in all the examples indicate the author's specifying remarks or pseudonyms.

A key worker in a children's home is the closest worker of a particular child. Each child in a children's home has his or her own key worker who has the main responsibility for the care of the child.

The conversation was conducted in Finnish. The mother and her son had been living in Finland for six years. The stepfather had moved in with them about a month before the meeting took place. The key worker emigrated from Estonia over ten years ago.

The interview was conducted in Finnish with the help of a Somali interpreter. The mother had been living in Finland for eight years.

The conversation was carried out in Finnish. The recording of this conversation failed, but the researcher took notes during the encounter.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Merja Anis

Home address: Löytänänkatu 1 B 9, 20540 Turku, Finland. Tel.: [phone]; E-mail: [email protected]