Søren Juul

Recognition and judgement in social work

The purpose of this article is to argue for recognition as a normative ideal for social work and to confront the ideal with the reality found in the social institutions. I shall use the concept ‘judgement’ to describe institutional routines and ways of thinking which constitute barriers to recognition. In the first part, I outline the normative ideal and show its relevance for practical social work on the basis of social clients’ experiences of disrespect. In the second, I explain the concept of judgement and criticise the prevailing forms of judgement to be found in social institutions. In my interpretation these pose an obstacle to recognition.

Incentives, contract policy, and disrespect: a critical normative analysis of changes in welfare policy leading to the disrespect of ethnic minorities in Denmark

The purpose of this article is to contribute to the theoretical discussion concerning the good and the just by means of an empirical case. Drawing on Honneths theory of recognition, a critical analysis of changes in Danish social and labor market policy is carried out. It is shown that discriminatory social benefits to ethnic minorities lead to feelings of disrespect among the recipients. The confrontation of theory and empirical evidence substantiates Honneths theory on the importance of equal legal rights. At the same time, it questions Nancy Frasers attempt to make a logical distinction between redistribution and recognition. Still, however, Fraser may be right that Honneth has too little to say about justice. Therefore, the article concludes that his theory must be supplied with a stronger notion of just procedures and, most importantly, with a concept of judgment, since rules and ethics are always interpreted by a judgment in situations.