‘Polyphonic’ welfare: Luhmann's systems theory applied to modern social work

Abstract

This article applies a series of concepts from Niklas Luhmann's systems theory in an analysis of modern welfare organisations. The point of departure is that social help in late modern welfare states has become ‘polycentric’ in that ‘help’ is today being defined by various different agents: public, voluntary and private care providers. Empirically, this article investigates re‐housing work with homeless people, a kind of social work which involves several different welfare organisations. The case study shows how these organisations define themselves by making internal constructions of their surroundings, and how their self‐enclosed nature creates a certain ‘insensitivity’ towards one another. How to coordinate and translate within this ‘polyphony’ of incomparable observations and values represents a major managerial challenge for present‐day social workers.