Track 2: Empirical case studies of social investments in care for marginalized citizens
Track 2
Investment rationality transpires on a social policy continuum where investments in the one end manifests as contractual agreements on financial returns and a metaphorical sense of investments in the other end where policymakers think of social policy spending as investments without formalizing expectations of returns.
In track 2, we study how investment rationales are expressed and experienced by local policymakers, welfare professionals and citizens who are invested in. The context of the empirical cases are municipalities, regions, civil society organizations and various funders and interest organizations. We treat research participants with confidentiality and do not share names of people, places or organizations.
Publications
Andersen, D. & Wadmann, S. (forthcoming). “The one big challenge is definitely measurement!”: Commensuration of wellbeing and financial returns in social investment programs for people in vulnerable positions. Accepted for publication in Statistique et Société in a special issue on the Micropolitics of Measurement published in 2027, available as preprint at SocArXiv;
Andersen, D., Iversen, L. & Christensen M. (2026). Contracted flexibility: Normative tensions at the frontlines of social investment programs targeting homelessness. Nordic Welfare Research, 11 (2), 1-19.
Andersen, D. (2026). Am I worth it? Social investment discourse as a frame of interaction in welfare programs for young people with drug problems. Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 43 (3), 100-116, Am I Worth it? Social Investment Discourse as a Frame of Interaction in Welfare Programs for Young People with Drug Problems - Ditte Andersen, 2026.
