Repair of Unstable Sociomaterial Relations: A Study on Librarians’ and Social Workers’ Practices in Addressing the Needs of Their Clients

Abstract

In this paper we address the increased digitalization of the fabric of modern welfare societies, and the expectations on individuals to be independent and digitally capable that follows from this. We focus on enactments of repair aimed at maintaining the lives of individuals situated in unstable sociomaterial relations in the context of social care and a public library in Sweden. The purpose was to explore enactments of repair in two Swedish empirical contexts: one in a social service setting, and one in a municipal library setting. The analysis was conducted with the help of the concept of repair, understood as maintenance or transformation. We conducted interviews and observations in these two settings and analyzed these with the help of the concept of repair. The analysis shows that in the context of social service, repair was enacted differently in relation to different interpretations of existing legislation concerning minimal livelihoods, and that in the context of the public library repair was enacted in relation to expectations of the library visitors to become digitally independent. The analysis showed that in both of these contexts repair was enacted as maintenance rather than as transformation.