1/2024 – ERIS Journal – Winter 2024 – Participation: A Path to Inclusion

The deadline to submit full papers from authors is July 31, 2023. Please send the full version of the manuscript to the administrator at journal@socialniprace.cz. You can also direct your questions and comments to the same place.

The deadline for submission of research notes and book reviews is October 30, 2023.

The publication date of the issue is February 29, 2024.


Annotation

In the wake of the Council of Europe’s longstanding work on citizens’ rights, user involvement is now clearly identified to improve access to social rights. In Europe, user involvement in social work is recognized as a right, but it takes different forms depending on the country and local context. Participation constitutes a new paradigm for social work – with an ideological basis but limited theoretical grounding – as well as a challenge.

At the same time, inclusion is an emerging socio-political concept in Europe. The lexical and conceptual field has evolved in the past few years, with a shift from the term integration to that of inclusion. First used in the field of disability, the inclusive dynamic has spread into numerous social work fields: poverty, aging, housing, etc.

How does participation contribute to inclusion? How does participation help move the lines of society? What are the adverse effects, challenges, successes, and positive impacts of an inclusive involvement approach?

This issue will explore these questions around three themes:

  • Theme 1: User Involvement in Europe: What Inclusive Methods? Articles may provide feedback from users’ participation experiences, identify the obstacles and levers of this participation, as well as their links with political and local contexts. Articles may include a comparative approach between territories, regions, or countries.
  • Theme 2: Managing Participation and Inclusion. What is the role of the manager in promoting a participatory and inclusive approach for users? What is the benefit of service user involvement for organizations? How to manage innovation, experiments, trial, and error? How to manage the shift of the power balance induced by user participation? How to support teams of professionals and involve them in the reflection?
  • Theme 3: Theoretical Perspectives. The concepts of empowerment, activation, and participation are in full expansion. What are their origins, their meanings, their differences? Is participation real or merely symbolic? What are the expectations of the participants and what is their status? What are the norms regarding inclusion, how are they relative, and what logic of action supports normative principles?

The editors are looking forward to hearing from you and receiving your submissions.

Emmanuel Jovelin,
editor, Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, Paris, France

&

Laure Lienard,
editor, Université Catholique de Lille, France