Innovation trajectories in social services

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Johannes Eurich; Professor Dr. Matthias Hüttemann; Dr. Georg Mildenberger
• Subject Area: Protestant Theology ; Empirical Social Research ; Political Science
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 521444192

Background: Social innovation is seen as one option to answer to societal challenges. The following three types of social innovation are closely connected: social innovation taking place in all areas of society, innovation within social welfare referring to the introduction of new and the redesign of existing structures, organizations, and professional paradigms in the welfare system (e.g. inclusion of people with disabilities) and innovation in social work developing novel procedures or services in the context of the discipline and profession of social work (e.g. school-based social work). Research gap: Research on social innovation in general is abundant, but less research exists on (a) how actors shape innovation processes in the welfare system, (b) which macro-social conditions are relevant in this process, (c) how the macro-, meso-, and micro-social levels interact, and (d) what role professional social work plays in these processes. Research object: Innovation processes in two fields of social services with disruptive developments in recent decades (disability assistance, addiction assistance) shall be examined in cross-national comparison (Germany, Switzerland). Focal questions are: Which actors - in which frameworks and social contexts - contribute to the reconfiguration of a social service field. A reconstructive perspective on at least two decades will help capture the interconnection of the different levels of welfare. The project aims to reconstruct and analyze innovation processes that reconfigered two social service fields with a special focus on the interplay of the macro, meso and micro levels and the role of social work as one of the key social professions. Research questions: (1) Content perspective: What are the contents (cognitive, normative, institutional, organizational, and/or professional-practical) of innovations in the welfare system? (2) Temporal perspective: How did welfare innovations evolve? How did turning points arise and take shape? (3) Social perspective: Which actors, actor constellations and macro-social framework conditions were relevant for the creation of innovation in the two social service fields? And which connections and interactions between macro-, meso- and micro-social levels can be reconstructed? (4) Social work perspective: What role did social work as a discipline and profession play in the innovation processes studied? Method: The qualitative, theory-generating method of grounded theory is applied to these questions. Data collected include documents of various kinds and guided interviews. For analysis, two concepts are used: the Extended Social Grid Model and the Multi-Level Perspective. Significance: The study will identify framework conditions and factors that foster innovation in social services. This will provide evidence for all those social actors who play a role in processes that aim to meet the key challenges of our time with social innovations or innovations in the social sector.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Switzerland
• Cooperation Partner: Professorin Dr. Anne Parpan-Blaser