Support between autonomy and dependence:

This research project examine access to, and conditions for, financial and material support exchange, for different groups of single adults who have been forced into, or chosen other forms of life beyond the traditional nuclear family.

The purpose was to investigate social aspects of support exchange between relatives. Relatives in this context do not mean the delimitation that is usually made to family and kinship, rather the subjective meaning that people themselves place in this concept, for example, friends, love relationships, co-workers, stepparents, etc.

Key issues are about guiding norms and principles for support exchange, and interactive processes that include reciprocity, integrity, values, legitimacy, dependence, and power.

Theoretically, the study contributes to understanding how responsibilities, obligations, and commitments shape today's social relations and how these new conditions of relationship in their extension have a decisive significance for the welfare policy.

In close connection with the project, two smaller sub-studies were conducted. One sub-study was a comparative study of students' experiences and attitudes to exchange informal financial support in Sweden and Portugal. The other one examined access to social capital in a marginalized area in Denmark.

Espwall, M. & Dellgran, P. (2005) Det sociala nätverkets kapaciteter. Om forskning kring informellt ekonomiskt och materiellt stöd. Sociologisk forskning Nr 2, 47– 65.

Espvall, M. & Dellgran, P. (2006) ULF´s sociala sida. Om socialt stöd och sociala nätverk i levnadsnivåundersökningarna. Socialvetenskaplig Tidskrift Nr 1,3 – 17.

Espvall, M & Dellgran, P. (2006) Reciprocitetens villkor. Om informellt ekonomiskt stödutbyte. Socionomens forskningssupplement Nr 20, 4 – 19.

Espvall, M. & Dellgran, P. (2008) I skuggan av välfärdsstaten. I: Halleröd, B. & Grönlund, A. (Eds.) Jämställdhetens pris. Umeå: Borea 

Dellgran, P., Espvall, M., das Dores Guerreiro, M. & Mauritti, R. (2012) Crowding out, crowding in or just a matter of transformation? Informal financial support in Portugal and Sweden. European Journal of Social Work, 15 (3), 393 – 411. 

Laursen, L H. & Espvall., M. (2014) Social capital in Gellerup. Journal of Social Inclusion, 5(1), 20 – 42.