ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of Nordic research concerning the encounter between social workers and clients. It reports the results of research conducted in Nordic countries on the encounter between social workers and clients within social services. The focus of the report is being upon research studying authentic conversations between social workers and clients. Encounters between clients and social workers are influenced by a number of different factors. The chapter shows how social interaction may be understood as a kind of negotiation process between the parties to the conversation. The interplay between participants in the encounter in the social welfare institution was said in the introduction to be dependent upon relevant background and contextual factors. The encounter between the social worker and client within social welfare institutions may be described as a phase in the transformation of sociopolitical issues to institutionally delimited problem definitions and measures that are the hallmark of modern society.
