Ungdomars självidentitet, arbetslöshet, kontakt med socialtjänsten och arbetsmarknadsinriktade insatser
en studie utifrån ungdomars berättelser
This essay examines how a group of five youths? self identities are affected by unemploy-ment, contact with the social services and by labour market interventions. In Sweden youth employment has been regarded as a social problem. Arbetslinjen that could be translated into the work model or the work line influences and is a necessity for the Swedish welfare system. With a hermeneutic scientific philosophical position the method used to examine this has been to interview the youths, in the age of 18-25, individually. The approach of the interviews is narrative, to capture the informants? full stories about their experiences. Finally the result of the interviews is analysed through theories about self identity and power that according to the authors of this essay are closely linked together and thus are necessary in understanding the narratives of the youths, which is essential knowledge on the field of social work. The results show that the youths´ self identity is affected and the outcome of this vary depending on how the intersection between gender, class, ethnicity and age is constituted. Further, the youths seem to have different experiences of treatment and this also affects their possibilities to act on different social fields.