When the Client Becomes Her Own Caseworker: Dislocation of Responsibility through Digital Self-Support in the Swedish Public Employment Service

Abstract

Drawing on ethnography in the Swedish Public Employment Service, this article compares caseworkers’ and local managers’ perceptions of changes towards increasing digital self-services for clients. Findings reflect a conflict of interest between different service ideals: vulnerable subjects in need of personalized guidance (caseworkers) versus competent subjects ready to manage their own unemployment via digital self-services (local managers). As we argue, the dislocation of responsibility via digital self-services serves to reinforce responsibilization, thus turning the client into her own caseworker. This development runs the risk of pushing vulnerable groups even further away from employment than they already are.