This study examines patterns in social worker decisions on social assistance eligibility in Sweden. Focusing on intersections between applicants’ gender, country of birth and family situation, factors that statistically anticipate decisions on granting assistance to individuals from different sub-groups were explored. The sample comprises 423 applications and four sets of modified Poisson regression models were conducted. The results strengthen the impression of social assistance assessments as a practice marked by the professionals’ categorizations. In line with previous research, social workers seem to act upon, and reinforce, a male breadwinner model by putting more emphasis on men’s efforts to establish self-support. Female applicants, in turn, are seemingly less likely to be granted assistance if they are assessed as having a problem with abuse of alcohol or illicit drugs. Also, having a family seems altogether to have a negative impact on women’s chances of approval. When considering gender and country of birth, decisions on social assistance eligibility largely reflect patterns of unemployment.

In Sweden, trained social workers ultimately determine the right to social assistance (SA). This paper examines how a substance-abusing SA applicant’s gender and ethnicity affect assessments on eligibility. It further addresses whether professionals’ gender and migration background have bearing for such patterns. Social work professionals (n = 910) spread over 43 social service offices in 19 Swedish municipalities conducted assessments based on a vignette. Four versions of the vignette were used, in which the name of the applicant was varied. The names were two Swedish-sounding names and two Arabic-sounding names: one of each gender respectively. Data were analysed by means of cross tabulations and multilevel logistic regression analysis. The Swedish-sounding names were linked to a higher chance of granting compared to the Arabic-sounding names, whereas females more often were seen as eligible than males. The major finding was the combined impact of gender and ethnicity: Applicants attributed with an Arabic-sounding male name were less often seen as eligible than those with a Swedish-sounding female name. This bias was specifically manifest among female professionals. Further, native-born professionals generally viewed the applicant as eligible to a higher extent than foreign-born.

I Sverige avgörs rätten till ekonomiskt bistånd genom individuella bedömningar som utförs av socialarbetare. I den här studien undersöks hur den sökandes kön och etnicitet påverkar bedömningar av en ensamstående klient med missbruksproblem. Vidare analyseras huruvida de professionellas kön och migrationsbakgrund har betydelse för sådana mönster. Socialarbetare (n = 910) från 43 socialtjänstkontor i 19 svenska kommuner fick göra bedömningar utifrån en vinjett. Fyra versioner av vinjetten användes, i vilka namnet på den sökande varierades mellan två svenskklingande namn (ett manligt och ett kvinnligt) och två arabiskt klingande namn (ett manligt och ett kvinnligt). Data analyserades med hjälp av korstabeller och logistisk flernivåregressionsanalys. De svenskklingande namnen kunde kopplas till en högre chans att beviljas ekonomiskt bistånd jämfört med de arabiskt klingande namnen, medan kvinnor oftare sågs som berättigade till stöd än män. Det viktigaste resultatet var emellertid den kombinerade betydelsen av etnicitet och kön: sökande med arabiskt klingande mansnamn bedömdes mer sällan vara berättigade till ekonomiskt bistånd än de som tilldelats svenskklingande kvinnonamn. Vidare var inrikes födda professionella mer benägna att bevilja ekonomiskt bistånd än sina utrikes födda kollegor.

Social work professionals’ assessments of social assistance (SA) eligibility for a heterosexual couple with a baby are examined. Professionals (n = 899) spread over 43 social service offices in 19 Swedish municipalities assessed a vignette. According to the vignette, one of the parents abstained from paid work to take parental leave, which caused the couple's need for SA. Two vignette dimensions were varied: the couple's ethnicity (Swedish/Arabic) and gendered family roles (mother/father going on parental leave). Data were analysed using multilevel logistic regression modelling. The results show that the combination of the couple's gendered family roles and ethnicity seems to have bearing on the assessments. Professionals were most prone to grant SA to couples with Swedish names where the mother went from work to parental leave. The lowest granting rate was found in assessments of couples with the same gender setting and Arabic names.

This study contributes to an understanding of the role of uncertainty in frontline decision-making about social assistance (SA) eligibility. Assessments by social workers of two vignettes (n=927; n=936) describing fictional SA applicants were analysed. The names of the fictional applicants were randomly varied so that the respondents assessed vignettes with either Swedish- or Arabic-sounding names. The respondents were asked to assess eligibility for SA, and to specify if any alternative assessment would be possible to make. Data was analysed by means of directed content analysis of free-text answers on the one hand, and crosstabulations and multilevel regression models on the other. 

The results show, first, that the social workers related the possibility of alternative assessments to varying definitions of what the uncertainty problem was, why it had arisen and how it could be solved. These aspects are discussed in terms of four to some extent overlapping rationales. Second, the results show that ethnicity bias may be involved both in how suitable for eligibility respondents assess SA applicants to be, and how definite or uncertain they perceive their own assessments to be. For both vignettes, the choice to deny SA to applicants with Arabic-sounding names was most clearly linked to perceived uncertainty.