Kontanthjælpsmodtagerens kritiske register: Den civile, den industrielle og den domestiske protest

This article investigates different acts of political protests currently floating from unemployed citizens who are being affected by recent retrenchment policy reforms. Whereas most of the existing literature tends to portray political protest as either collective and public or individual and private, this article attempts instead to shed light on the plurality of normative resources activated by the unemployed in a highly critical situation. Thereby the analysis moves between the collective and the individual as well as between the public and the private. Using the theoretical framework developed by Laurent Thévenot and Luc Boltanski in their joint work on justification, the article analyses a specific case, namely unemployed Danish recipients of social assistance who are affected by a new policy initiative meaning that their income has been lowered. Drawing on newspaper articles and qualitative in-depth interviews with affected citizens, the analysis unfolds and theorizes upon three very different forms of protesting: a civic, an industrial and a domestic form of resistance

Kontanthjælpsmodtagerens kritiske register: Den civile, den industrielle og den domestiske protest

This article investigates different acts of political protests currently floating from unemployed citizens who are being affected by recent retrenchment policy reforms. Whereas most of the existing literature tends to portray political protest as either collective and public or individual and private, this article attempts instead to shed light on the plurality of normative resources activated by the unemployed in a highly critical situation. Thereby the analysis moves between the collective and the individual as well as between the public and the private. Using the theoretical framework developed by Laurent Thévenot and Luc Boltanski in their joint work on justification, the article analyses a specific case, namely unemployed Danish recipients of social assistance who are affected by a new policy initiative meaning that their income has been lowered. Drawing on newspaper articles and qualitative in-depth interviews with affected citizens, the analysis unfolds and theorizes upon three very different forms of protesting: a civic, an industrial and a domestic form of resistance

Det aktive menneskes triumf? — en analyse af de omfattende forandringer af kategoriseringen af kontanthjælpsmodtageren

Artiklen beskæftiger sig med de kategorier, som benyttes af medarbejdere i landets kommuner til at beskrive kontanthjælpsmodtageres jobparathed. Reform for reform har kategorierne gennemgået gennemgribende forandringer: Fra at kategorisere kontanthjælpsmodtagere som mennesker med forskellige problemer til at beskrive dem som parate mennesker med iboende potentiale til aktivitet.This article analyses the system of categorisation currently used for describing and labelling social assistance recipients in Denmark as either qualified or not qualified for work. Rather than studying concrete situations, where ‘clients’ meet ‘system’, the article offers instead an analysis of how the classification system itself has profoundly changed its logic through the past decades. The ‘old’ categorisation system described the various problems and weaknesses of the unemployed, whereas the ‘new’ system – deemed to be more “positive” and “optimistic” – is blind to such issues and describes only the various strengths and readiness of the unemployed. Thereby, the system of categorisation plays an important role in the public legitimisation of harsh new activation policy programs with politicians claiming that we ought to meet the able-bodied unemployed with strict demands. Empirically the article describes this transformation of the categorisation system by drawing on an archive of relevant governance documents – first and foremost documents from Ministries directed at front workers and imposing them to categorise the unemployed according to certain logics. Theoretically the article is inspired by concepts from newer French pragmatic sociology. Of special importance is the concept of the institution as developed by Luc Boltanski. The concept makes visible how the categorisation system turns the unemployed individuals into a reality of manageable groups that can be grasped and handled by the political system

Når styringens ambitioner udfordres af praksis. Om at analysere rummet imellem styringens intentioner og situationel praksis

Studier, der analyserer det sociale med inspiration fra Foucaults tanker om governmentality, kritiseres i stigende omfang for at afskære sig fra at analysere de praktiske relationer, som politisk styring konkret indlejres i. I artiklen tager vi afsæt i denne kritik og viser, med et studie af forholdet mellem et kommunalt jobcenter og et lokalt beskæftigelsesråd, hvordan governmental magtanalyse kan indfange styringens uforudsigelige, mangefacetterede og immanente karakter ved at fokusere på styringsintentionernes møde med den praktiske virkelighed, der søges styret. Formelt er rådet nedsat til at overvåge og kontrollere jobcentret, men i den praktiske relation er det snarere jobcentret, som overvåger og kontrollerer rådet. Artiklen viser, hvordan dette er muligt ved at analysere jobcentrets arbejde med rådet ved hjælp af en række centrale begreber fra Foucaults forfatterskab. Empirisk trækker studiet foruden formelle myndighedsdokumenter, der beskriver rådets tiltænkte rolle, på praksisinformerende empiri i form af kvalitative interviews og mødereferater over en fire-årig periode. ENGELSK ABSTRACT: Mathias Herup Nielsen and Niklas Andreas Andersen: When Praxis Challenges the Ambitions of Governing. Analyzing the Space between the Intentions of Governing and Situational Praxis Studies working with the Foucauldian concept of ”governmentality” are frequently criticized for their apparent disregard of empirical reality. This article takes this critique as its point of departure and demonstrates the application of the concept of governmentality in a concrete empirical case study in order to grasp the unpredictable and multifaceted nature of modern day power. The case investigated here is the relationship between a Danish Jobcentre and a so-called local employment council (LBR). The latter was created to ”control” and ”monitor” the former organization. However, in practice, it is rather the other way around – the Jobcentre is controlling and monitoring the members of the LBR. This article draws on a number of well-known Foucauldian concepts to show how this relation of power is practically structured. Empirically the article draws on documents from central authorities as well as on a number of qualitative interviews with the actors involved – hence, the article attempts to meet with the dominant overall critique of the governmentality perspective for disregarding empirical reality. Keywords: governmentality, Michel Foucault, unemployment policy, jobcentre