Professorial Fellow (Utacas)
1.8.2010-31.7.2011

Office: Pinni B, room 3099
Phone: +358 50 338 3925
Email: kirsi.juhila@uta.fi

My overall research interests include the issues of marginalisation and social exclusion, the construction of social problems and clienthood in social work interaction, social work practices in welfare societies and among adults, and the methodology and methods related to discursive approaches in social sciences. During the course of my Utacas year (2010-2011) the focus of research lies at the crossroads of short-term society and long-term problems. To put it more precisely, I am examining whether there is still a place for professional discretion which assesses clients to have entrenched problems needing long-lasting help in the spirit of short-term society requiring both helping work professionals and their clients to process problems effectively and relying on managerialist audit/outcomes orientation. The main aim is to address the question: How are long-term problems talked into being and tackled in street-level social and health care work in a short-term society? My data come from two mental health agencies, where the persistence and complexity of the problems are part of everyday practices at the same time when the agencies must constantly furnish evidence of the efficiency and usefulness of their activity. The data include meetings among professionals, client-worker conversations, client documents and interviews. I draw on discursive constructionism, membership categorization analysis and accounts analysis as research methods.

Home pages: http://www.uta.fi/laitokset/sostyo/hlokunta/juhila/