Social Pedagogy perspectives on a controversial diagnosis of time

In the course of their professional life, every Social Education specialist is eventually confronted with the economic dimensions of their own actions. This includes both the sustainable use of time and material resources and considerations regarding efficiency and effectiveness. Since modernity, socio-educational action at the institutional level has never been free from economic aspects, or rather, it has always been linked to the economy as a subarea of society (for example, with regard to funding). Nevertheless, the connection between social and economic aspects under the term “economization” has been criticized in the social sciences and humanities for two decades, sometimes fiercely.
On closer inspection, however, it can be observed that it is neither the indirect dependence of Social Education on the economy (for example, through budget allocation) nor the everyday rationalizations in practice that are criticized in the hypothesis of economization. Rather, the object of criticism is the dominance of economic elements in Social Education which, critics claim, changes socio-educational action in such a way that professional and content-related argumentations and target descriptions are overlaid by economic aspects. This occurs, for example, when quotas have to be met or tasks fulfilled within a predefined time, so that clients with poorer “prospects of success” or needs that do not fit into the (timing) scheme fall through the cracks. Or the efficiency argument is used to justify financial cutbacks, while professionals are required to uphold their performance or do even more.
Where the criticism is justified, economization tendencies can actually lever out the specialist professionalism of Social Education. For this reason, it is important to approach the topic in a critical and analytical manner. The central question in the project is:
•    How should the developments that are interpreted as “economization” be assessed with regard to the effects that they generate for Social Education?

The objective is to address economic aspects in one’s own professional practice, to carefully examine the economization theory, and to critically position oneself with regard to (feared or proven?) de-professionalization tendencies. The research questions are addressed using qualitative social science research.