IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsoctx/v13y2023i9p209-d1239064.html

Transformations in Local Social Action in Portugal

Author

Listed:
  • Hermínia Gonçalves

    (Center for Transdisciplinary Studies for Development (CETRAD), University of Trás-os Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal)

  • Jorge Ferreira

    (Center for Research and Studies in Sociology, University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE), 1649-026 Lisboa, Portugal)

Abstract

The decentralization of social functions to municipalities, also known as municipal decentralization, triggered new contexts of practice in municipal social intervention. Municipalities are now dealing with more work and a focus on working in partnerships, which calls for greater dynamism of the local social action teams. This process has pushed the social workers to practices that alternate between mediation through the construction of access to a universal standard of social rights and the development of social intervention models with specific access to certain contexts and social groups. The objective of this paper is to envision new forms of standardization of social action within the framework of municipal decentralization, combining place-based perspectives with community and structural social work. What can we learn from social workers’ perspectives on the context of social functions in order to envision forms of place-based standardization of municipal social action? We seek to analyze the professional visions of local social action systems reform, discussing new contexts of practice; new place-based functions; and their correlation with political mediation for universal and intermunicipal social rights, instrumental dimensions of concrete work, and dimensions of value attributed to practicing social work. We organized the research according to the phenomenological paradigm, mobilizing the qualitative method and the multiple-case study. Based on evidence from the discourse of all professionals involved in the study, the findings indicate that the transformations of local social action systems, associated with the processes of social functions decentralization, imply greater comprehensiveness of social intervention, the ability to work in partnerships, and new place-based approach matrices, but they also present challenges for social workers in terms of multilevel governance that may favor the standardization of access to better social well-being between municipal territories.

Suggested Citation

  • Hermínia Gonçalves & Jorge Ferreira, 2023. "Transformations in Local Social Action in Portugal," Societies, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-17, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:13:y:2023:i:9:p:209-:d:1239064
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/13/9/209/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/13/9/209/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Manohar Pawar, 2014. "Social Work Practice With Local Communities in Developing Countries," SAGE Open, , vol. 4(2), pages 21582440145, June.
    2. Gilles Duranton & Anthony J. Venables, 2018. "Place-Based Policies for Development," NBER Working Papers 24562, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Alfred D. Chandler, 1992. "Organizational Capabilities and the Economic History of the Industrial Enterprise," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 79-100, Summer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cristina Pereira & Herm'inia Gonc{c}alves & Teresa Sequeira, 2024. "Determinants of well-being," Papers 2401.17047, arXiv.org.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Franklin, Simon, 2020. "Enabled to work: The impact of government housing on slum dwellers in South Africa," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    2. Gamal Atallah, 2002. "Production Technology, Information Technology, and Vertical Integration Under Asymmetric Information," Working Papers 0203EClassification-JEL: , University of Ottawa, Department of Economics.
    3. Kim, Sukkoo, 1999. "The Rise of Multiunit Firms in U.S. Manufacturing," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 360-386, October.
    4. Dorine Cornet & Jean Bonnet & Sébastien Bourdin, 2023. "Digital entrepreneurship indicator (DEI): an analysis of the case of the greater Paris metropolitan area," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 71(3), pages 697-724, December.
    5. Knudsen, Camilla & Moura, Fernanda Senra de & Bucker, Joris Joseph Johannes Hendrik & Mealy, Penelope Ann, 2025. "Five Frictions : Key Labor Market Barriers to Unlocking Job Growth in the Green Transition," Policy Research Working Paper Series 11224, The World Bank.
    6. Denis Phan & Thierry Sommer, 1998. "Governance and Technological Change: Transaction Costs in Telco-Equipment Supplier Networks," Post-Print hal-04049355, HAL.
    7. Denis Bayart, 2001. "Le tournant gestionnaire d'un grand système technique : le contrôle de la navigation aérienne fait ses adieux à l'Etat," Post-Print hal-00262584, HAL.
    8. Bénédicte Aldebert & Rani Jeanne Dang & Amandine Maus, 2025. "Interactions entre Grandes Entreprises et Startups deeptech via un incubateur corporate," Post-Print hal-05242650, HAL.
    9. Jackie Krafft, 2006. "Business history and the organization of industry," Post-Print hal-00211780, HAL.
    10. Goel, Rajeev K. & Saunoris, James W., 2016. "Institutional path dependence and international research intensity," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 52(PB), pages 851-858.
    11. Nian Meng & Zhang Haipeng & Wang Yao, 2024. "The Growth Contribution of China’s Regional Coordinated Development Strategy—On the Dispute of Regional Policy Paths," China Finance and Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 13(4), pages 24-44.
    12. Jean-Luc Gaffard, 2003. "Coordination, marché et organisation. Essai sur l'efficacité et la stabilité des économies de marché," Revue de l'OFCE, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 85(2), pages 235-270.
    13. Klaus Rathe & Ulrich Witt, 2001. "The Nature of the Firm – Static versus Developmental Interpretations," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 5(3), pages 331-351, September.
    14. Hasan, Rana & Jiang, Yi & Rafols, Radine Michelle, 2021. "Place-based preferential tax policy and industrial development: Evidence from India’s program on industrially backward districts," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    15. Christos Pitelis, 2022. "Big tech and platform-enabled multinational corporate capital(ism): the socialisation of capital, and the private appropriation of social value," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 46(6), pages 1243-1268.
    16. T.V.S. Ramamohan Rao, 2011. "CES as an Organizational Production Function," Indian Economic Review, Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, vol. 46(1), pages 69-81.
    17. Chivu, Luminita, 2019. "The Puzzle of Industrial Enterprises in Romania over a Century: 1918-2017," Working Papers of National Institute for Economic Research 191018, Institutul National de Cercetari Economice (INCE).
    18. Christensen, Clayton M. & Rosenbloom, Richard S., 1995. "Explaining the attacker's advantage: Technological paradigms, organizational dynamics, and the value network," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 233-257, March.
    19. Joost Veenstra & Herman de Jong, 2015. "A Tale of Two Tails: Plant Size Variation and Comparative Labor Productivity in U.S. and German Manufacturing in the Early 20th Century," CEH Discussion Papers 032, Centre for Economic History, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    20. Giampaolo Bonomi, 2026. "The Division of Understanding: Specialization and Democratic Accountability," Papers 2604.09871, arXiv.org, revised May 2026.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:13:y:2023:i:9:p:209-:d:1239064. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask MDPI Indexing Manager to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.