ABSTRACT

The outside world is in The focus in this chapter is on the complexities involved with the interconnectedness between the various services and their socio-cultural surroundings. After all, there isn’t a single service provider who would not react to processes such as individualization, not to mention the many processes involving rationalization. Even the latter probably do not simply emerge from ‘inside’. The legitimacy of the various services – and this includes the ways they may become subject to public debate – is continuously being (re-)produced in and through this socio-cultural environment. The socio-cultural processes are presented here in terms of the societal discourse that is presented mostly in the public debate. The theoretical notion of discourse has become more well known through the work of Michel Foucault (cf. Anderson 2003: vi) A discourse or discursive formation can be defined as a network of meaningful expressions held together by a more or less legitimate societal concern. As noted in Chapter 1, it is expected to affect the legitimacy of the services discussed here.