Balancing the good - a critical discourse analysis of home modification services

Today an increasing number of people with functional limitations are ageing in their homes. Although the home has become an arena for assessment and implementation of services, little is known about how the interrelationships between ideological and practical circumstances influence the allocation of such welfare services. This explorative study applied a combination of critical discourse analysis and a narrative approach to closely examine such relationships in home modification services to older persons in Sweden. Data consisted of focus group discussions with street-level bureaucrats from two institutional contexts in the organisational field of home modification services and official documents related to such services. Findings showed that the attempts of street-level bureaucrats to allocate resources in accordance with the good were complicated by competing local definitions of 'the good'. The process of forming local perceptions of the good included complex balancing acts between hegemonic discourses within the organisational field which influenced and shaped how 'the good' was practised. Understanding the moral dimensions that enter into the complexity of allocation of home modification services across institutional settings has implications for the policies of and practices for the allocation of welfare resources.