이 연구는 한국 고유의 ‘사회복지관’ 명칭을 가지는 조직의 정체성을 규명하려는 것이다. 근래에 사회서비스 공급 환경이 급속히 변화하면서, 사회복지관 정책의 당위성이나 적정 포지셔닝(positioning)에 대해 많은 논란이 제기되어왔다. 본 연구는 이러한 문제들이 대부분 사회복지관의 정체성 혼란과 결부되어 있다고 보았으며, 이런 문제의식에 기반해서 사회복지관 정책의 대안적 정향(定向)에 요구되는 정체성의 실체를 규명해보고자 했다. 기축된 개념과 담론들에 대한 비판적 분석을 통해 제도적으로 규명 가능한 실체적 수준에서 사회복지관의 정체성을 구성해보았다. 역사적 문헌자료에 대한 분석과 해석이 주된 연구 방법이며, 법제와 각종 통계 자료, 보고서 및 연구물, 직·간접 인터뷰 자료 등에 대한 프로빙 방식의 자료수집이 적용되었다. 이들 자료의 주관적 편향을 배제해내기 위해서는 연구자의 합리적 의심을 통한 비판적 검토와 삼각측량 원칙을 채용했다. 연구의 결과는 다음을 밝힌다. 첫째, 현존하는 한국의 사회복지관들은 1960년대 중반에 처음 나타났던 ‘사회복지관’ 명칭의 조직을 정체성의 원형(原型)으로 한다. 둘째, 사회복지관의 정체성에는 ‘커뮤니티’와 ‘복지서비스’가 이념적 및 현실적 지향으로 공존해오고 있다. 셋째, 현실적으로 사회복지관 사업이 1980년대 정부 정책에 본격 편입된 이후 커뮤니티 지향은 최소화되었고, 서비스 지향 일변도의 확장 경로가 발생했다. 이는 2000년대에 들어 사회복지관이 겪는 두 가지 정체성 위기의 근원으로 작용한다. 넷째, 현재와 향후 사회복지관의 대안적 정체성의 정향은 커뮤니티와 복지서비스라는 두 가지 코어의 혼화(混和) 구조에 있다고 본다. 중간조직으로서의 기능을 중심으로 하는 코어의 재구조화 작업이 예시로 제안된다. 본 연구는 사회복지관의 정체성 위기의 본질을 비판적 관점에서 분석하고, 그 대안적 정향을 제시하는 정도에서의 의미가 있다.
This study is to inquire identity of the organizations named ‘Social Welfare Center(SWC)’ which is an indigenous organization in Korea. Recently much debates have been occurred surrounding the policy of SWC, that are mostly related to the confusing identity of SWC. Various discourses on the SWC, especially with the usage of complex ‘community welfare’ concept, contribute to deepen obscurity of the organizational aspect as well as service programs of the organization. Recognizing this problem, this study intends to construct the identifiable level of organizational nature of origin which is inherited from the birth of SWC. Historical data were gathered, scrutinized, and analyzed, which are legal documents, statistical tables, interviews, and others. Probing, Critical Analysis, and Triangulation techniques have been applied. This study finds the following : First, SWC is unique phenomenon independent from other organizational origins like Settlement House. Second, The identity of SWC is composed of two cores, ‘community’ and ‘welfare’ with either ideological or practical inclination. Third, since the periods of the 1980s, when the SWC had been adopted by the government as the useful alternative for expanding capacity of social service provision, SWC has weakened the ‘community’ core of identity compared to the strengthened ‘welfare’ core identity. And this has caused the crisis of the recent SWC situations. Finally, the desirable course for the SWC identity seeking is suggested as with modulating ‘intermediary organization’ role. It is concluded that further studies are needed to investigate regarding pratical model building of intermediary organization conceptualization for SWC.
This study is to inquire identity of the organizations named ‘Social Welfare Center(SWC)’ which is an indigenous organization in Korea. Recently much debates have been occurred surrounding the policy of SWC, that are mostly related to the confusing identity of SWC. Various discourses on the SWC, especially with the usage of complex ‘community welfare’ concept, contribute to deepen obscurity of the organizational aspect as well as service programs of the organization. Recognizing this problem, this study intends to construct the identifiable level of organizational nature of origin which is inherited from the birth of SWC. Historical data were gathered, scrutinized, and analyzed, which are legal documents, statistical tables, interviews, and others. Probing, Critical Analysis, and Triangulation techniques have been applied. This study finds the following : First, SWC is unique phenomenon independent from other organizational origins like Settlement House. Second, The identity of SWC is composed of two cores, ‘community’ and ‘welfare’ with either ideological or practical inclination. Third, since the periods of the 1980s, when the SWC had been adopted by the government as the useful alternative for expanding capacity of social service provision, SWC has weakened the ‘community’ core of identity compared to the strengthened ‘welfare’ core identity. And this has caused the crisis of the recent SWC situations. Finally, the desirable course for the SWC identity seeking is suggested as with modulating ‘intermediary organization’ role. It is concluded that further studies are needed to investigate regarding pratical model building of intermediary organization conceptualization for SWC.
