PhD Defense: Alexandrina Schmidt
In order to obtain the PhD degree, Alexandrina Schmidt has submitted her thesis entitled:
The Mundane in the Digital: A qualitative study of social work and vulnerable clients in Danish job centre
Denmark has one of the most digitalised public sectors in the world. Being a social worker within a digital public organisation requires the use of vast information and communication technologies. Being enrolled in such an organisation as a client implies being able to navigate, for example, an array of digital self-help solutions, systems such as digital ID, complete online applications, and digital mailing systems. In this increasingly ubiquitous digital society, research interests tend to overlook the mundane technologies that support and govern our everyday lives and activities. This thesis foregrounds these mundane technologies by investigating their role in social work with vulnerable clients and in vulnerable clients’ agentic practices. The thesis builds on qualitative interviews with social workers and vulnerable clients and is comprised of three articles. Overall, the thesis demonstrates how mundane technologies partake in the social worker–client relationship. It also shows that such technologies can both enable and constrain social work practices and clients’ agentic practices and provide opportunities for everyday resistance. This thesis suggests extending the focus from new and spectacular digital technologies to the mundane in the digital.
The thesis will be available from research.cbs.dk
Primary Supervisor:
Professor Nanna Mik-Meyer
Department of Organization
Copenhagen Business School
Secondary Supervisors:
Associate Professor Christoph Houman Ellersgaard
Department of Organization
Copenhagen Business School
Assessment Committee:
Professor Anne Reff Pedersen (Chair)
Department of Organization
Copenhagen Business School
Reader Gareth Thomas
School of Social Sciences
Cardiff University
Professor Erika Gubrium
Department of Social Work, Child Welfare and Social Policies
Oslo Met University
Date: 11 April 2024
Time: 13:00-15:00
Location: Kilen
Room: Ks54
Reception: Kitchen area of IOA (4th floor) Kilen
*The CBS PhD School will host a reception, which will take place immediately after the defence.