Language as resource and challenge among bilingual social workers in the Swedish social services

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores how language informs work practice from the perspective of bilingual social workers in the Swedish social services. The analysis is based on empirical data from three focus group interviews. The article concludes that, on the one hand, social workers’ bilingualism has the potential of contributing to relationship building with clients; facilitating clients’ democratic participation; and destabilizing power asymmetries between social worker and client. On the other hand, social workers’ bilingualism runs the risk of being a marker of ‘difference’, disrupting relationship building with clients; becoming a source of self-consciousness in relation to oral and written performances at work; and finally, evoking a sense of responsibility of educating colleagues about clients’ vulnerable positions. Bilingualism is a professional skill that should be officially valued, but social service organizations also need to be responsive to the needs of bilingual social workers and address upcoming issues on an individual as well as organizational level. As bilingual social workers compose a significant part of the social services’ workforce today, it is necessary to further explore the meanings of bilingualism in various social work settings, and among various professional groups.