Digitalisierung als Informatisierung in der sozialen Arbeit?: Folgen für Arbeit und professionelles Selbstverständnis von Sozialarbeiter*innen

Currently, digitization is seen as a megatrend of change in the world of work. In this context, the exclusive focus on digitization as driver and trigger of current changes does not go far enough. Especially in the public sector, the driving forces behind the ongoing reorganization can be found in the Introduction of New Public Management (NPM) and social and health reforms. If one understands these developments as part of a socio-historical process of informatization, it becomes clear that the discussion about digitization of social work sheds new light upon the familar debate about the tendencies of economization, bureaucratization and standardization of work. The present contribution refers to these developments and investigates how social workers in management positions experience the digitization of their work. It also examines to what extent they are aware of processes of informatization and digitization in the sense of opportunity or risk. Empirical evidence shows that, from the employees’ point of view, the working and employment conditions in the field of social work are less characterized by digitization than by informatization. The changes are primarily experienced as an increase in stress and threat to the professional self-image.