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Resistance as a means of creating accountability in child welfare institutions
Author(s) -
Severinsson Susanne,
Markström AnnMarie
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
child and family social work
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.912
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1365-2206
pISSN - 1356-7500
DOI - 10.1111/cfs.12070
Subject(s) - resistance (ecology) , welfare , psychological intervention , identity (music) , accountability , psychology , sociology , social welfare , foster care , social psychology , public relations , political science , psychiatry , law , physics , acoustics , biology , ecology
Abstract This paper investigates the identity constructions of youths who are objects of special interventions in the area of child welfare. The aim of the paper was to explore the various dimensions of resistance to institutional identities among youths in special schools and foster‐care institutions. Interviews were conducted with adolescents aged between 12 and 15, identified as having social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. The analysis generates knowledge about society's interventions as well as how adolescents respond to offered institutional identities by adopting different kinds of discursive resistance. The paper highlights the different types of discursive resistance that adolescents use to present themselves as accountable individuals and discusses the importance of considering resistance as a positive force rather than as something that must be defeated.