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Client Abuse to Public Welfare Workers: Theoretical Framework and Critical Incident Case Study

Stroebeak, Pernille S; Korczynski, Marek

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Authors

Pernille S Stroebeak

MAREK KORCZYNSKI MAREK.KORCZYNSKI@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Professor of Sociology of Work and Human Resource Management



Abstract

© The Author(s) 2016. We analyse a case study of workers’ experience of client abuse in a Danish public welfare organisation. We make an original contribution by putting forward two different theoretical expectations of the case. One expectation is that the case follows a pattern of customer abuse processes in a social market economy – in which workers are accorded power and resources, in which workers tend to frame the abuse as the outcome of a co-citizen caught in system failure and in which workers demonstrate some resilience to abuse. Another expectation is that New Public Management reforms push the case to follow patterns of customer abuse associated with a liberal market economy – in which the customer is treated as sovereign against the relatively powerless worker, and in which workers bear heavy emotional costs of abuse. Our findings show a greater match to the social processes of abuse within a social market economy.

Citation

Stroebeak, P. S., & Korczynski, M. (2018). Client Abuse to Public Welfare Workers: Theoretical Framework and Critical Incident Case Study. Sociology, 52(4), 762-777. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038516672626

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 8, 2016
Online Publication Date Dec 12, 2016
Publication Date Aug 1, 2018
Deposit Date Mar 23, 2017
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Sociology
Print ISSN 0038-0385
Electronic ISSN 1469-8684
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 52
Issue 4
Pages 762-777
DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038516672626
Keywords coping, client abuse, market economies, public welfare workers, social market economy, liberal market economy, new public management reforms
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/835697
Publisher URL http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0038038516672626

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