Contradictions between individually needed and institutionally offered forms of recognition

Abstract

Powell, & Fitzgerald, 2016) do not always recognize young people in an all-encompassing manner as emotional, equal, and capable human beings. In this article, I study how institutional and professional roles direct and limit the recognition that can be offered (see Sointu, 2006). For example, the primary obligation of social workers in their institutional role is to respect the rights of clients equally and identically. However, this approach can lead to misrecognition if a young client expects to be treated like a friend, that is, as an emotional and unique individual. To study systematically contradictions in recognition; namely, what is institutionally offered and individually needed, I utilize Honneth's (1995, 2004) three forms of recognition: loving and caring for another person (called love), respecting another person's rights (rights), and valuing the unique skills and features of another person (solidarity). This threefold conceptualization has been widely used in research on the relations between youths and, for example:

Chronic pain patients’ need for recognition and their current struggle

“…As it is neither possible nor necessary here for the argument’s sake to reconstruct those complex academic debates about recognition, a reference to Honneth’s work should suffice as a starting point for further presenting the idea we pursue here. 10 His work seems most applicable as a starting point, as it not only has an explicit and genuine societal-theoretical point of view, but has already been successfully applied and discussed in various contexts, such as Salminen’s ( 2020 ) recent study regarding young people and professionals in social and youth work. But as Honneth has not specifically addressed the topic chronic pain, we will need to make some necessary conceptual adaptations.…”