Localizing Digitalization: New State Spaces and Local Resistances

Abstract

This chapter investigates the outcomes and consequences of national digitalization policies within local public sector institutions. Zooming in on citizen service centres, the municipal institutions primarily responsible for helping citizens use the digital platforms mandated by the Danish state, the chapter explores how this state space has changed due to digitalization efforts. Based on qualitative interviews in seven municipalities, the chapter showcases how new functions, roles and logics have emerged within these local institutions. It argues that citizen service centres have increasingly become disciplinary spaces concerned with turning non-digital individuals into digital beings. At the same time, the chapter also highlights the new counter-hegemonies that may be forming within the state itself, as welfare state professionals both deconstruct and circumvent the official policy visions in their daily work practices. Taken together, the chapter provides insights into the institutional consequences of national digitalization efforts on the ground.