| Abstract [eng] |
The article analyzes the importance of language in social assistance policy in Lithuania. It focuses on the process of categorization that has recently emerged in the Lithuanian social policy rhetoric. Categorization is regarded as a generalized identification of a subject, bearing in mind that attribution of individuals to some category means their generality according to some fundamental features represented by that category. The following terms “socially supported,” “families at risk of social exclusion,” “long-term unemployed,” etc. that have a negative connotation are used in social support policy legislation. This process of categorization covers a very large part of the Lithuanian society since, first, many social groups and individuals use services and benefits of the social assistance system and, second, during the economic crisis the demand and extent of social assistance have increased in Lithuania. Thus, it is important to analyze the language that social policy employs in describing its recipients. Language used in social policy documents and social service organizations can be analyzed as a tool of power by which more powerful actors (policy-makers, service organizers and providers) impose their views and values on less powerful individuals (disabled, children in foster care, long-term unemployed, drug addicts, etc.). It can be argued that the process of categorization in social policy legislation in Lithuania creates a discriminatory environment for social assistance recipients and it establishes hierarchical power relations between social assistance organizers, providers and individuals and families that receive this assistance. It is also possible to assume that the negative labelling of individuals in need is one of the factors making this policy and provided services inefficient in Lithuania. |
