Digitalization of European Society: Challenges for Social Work
Digitalization of European Society: Challenges for Social Work

Summary/Abstract: Uncertainty, transition, revolution? How, in 10 years, do European policies for the development of digital technologies gradually affect the daily lives of all citizens, including the most socially vulnerable? What are the consequences on social innovation, training, and qualifications required in the professions of social engineering and social work? This article is inspired by the State-of-play of policies and the development of digitalization in Europe developed as part of the DLSI project, Digital Learning in Social Intervention (2021-2024). Co-financed by Erasmus+, a program of the European Union, the DLSI project brings together a consortium of social engineering specialists and social workers, training institutes, university research and professional structures, from 5 partner countries: France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Romania, and Greece. After presenting the situation in Europe, the article focuses on these 5 countries, then on France to show that a good level of infrastructure is not enough to guarantee access to digital solutions for the entire population in an egalitarian way. It proposes an analysis in terms of challenges so that the social workers who accompany the fight against the digital divide can face the new stakes posed by the dematerialization of services and administrative procedures.

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