The aim of this master thesis is to investigate how the social work, with elderly people who resides in assisted living facilities, is articulated in the municipal policies for elderly people as well as amongst the care assistants in the field of work. Furthermore the aim is to investigate which implications the articulations may have for the social work with elderly people residing in assisted living facilities. The study is placed in a social-constructive context, and Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis is used as a method to identify how the social work with elderly people who resides in assisted living facilities is articulated in the municipal policies for elderly people as well as amongst the care assistants in the field of work. The study identifies two discourses in the municipal policies for elderly people, an
independence discourse and a structural discourse. The two discourses highly accentuate the importance of independency and optimum staffing in the social work with elderly people residing in assisted living facilities. Moreover the study identifies four discourses in the field of work, a staffing discourse, an institutional discourse, a quality discourse and a professional discourse. The four discourses from the field of work is mainly focused on structural suggestions and limitations in the social practice, however the care assistants articulate these suggestions and limitations from very different points of view. The study identified several strategic battles within the discursive practices i.e. between the care assistants and their different educational backgrounds. However the study concluded that the dominating discourses in the field of work primarily aimed to reproduce the predominating discourses from the municipal policies for elderly people, and this shows to have implications on how the care assistants carry out the social work with elderly people residing in assisted living facilities. Furthermore, the study concludes that the care assistants show willingness to implement new ways to practice in their field of work, and also the articulations have a positive effect on the social work by stimulating reflections on the daily social practices in the field of work.