Recent decades have witnessed mounting attention to the theme of recognition, both in public policy and in the academic world. Scholarly debate on recognition is dominated by philosophers, while the policy debate is dominated by political and educational perspectives. A sociological perspective has scarcely been developed. In this article, we approach recognition as a sociological phenomenon with the aid of Collins' theory of Interaction Ritual Chains. Our research is located in three Dutch sheltered workshops that aim to provide recognition through work to young men with mild intellectual disabilities. While Collins provides an interesting interactional perspective to distinguish between different situations of recognition, we add an institutional dimension by showing how individualising labour-market policies and care practices articulate a set of 'interaction rules' that encourage some recognition rituals and foreclose others. This demonstrates the importance of a sociological contribution to the debate on recognition, and points to 'unintended consequences' of policies that aim to strengthen recognition in ways that in fact cannot be achieved by those involved. Such a sociological perspective can bring out more practical and nuanced accounts of recognition, and enrich both scholarly and policy debates on this topic.

The past decades have witnessed growing interest in the concept of recognition, in social movements as well as in social theory. While the 'recognition turn' has made recognition a cornerstone in social and political philosophy, empirical interestin sociology, anthropology and business studiesremains limited and has mainly focused on misrecognition and disrespect. As a result, recognition as a theoretical ideal remains largely divorced from the lived and messy realities of people's everyday search for recognition. This article addresses this lacuna. Based on long-term participant observation and interviews with professionals and young men with mild intellectual disabilities working in sheltered employment projects in the Netherlands, it examines everyday practices of claiming and receiving recognition, how recognition is shaped by the institutional environment of sheltered work, and how it is achieved or subverted in everyday interactions between young men and professionals. Our contribution to the literature lies in our empirical finding that misrecognition is often enfolded in recognition. By stating that misrecognition is enfolded in recognition, we mean that an instance of recognition coincides with, and likely depends on, some form of misrecognition. While focusing on the messiness and ambivalence of recognition in everyday life may dilute it as an ideal, acknowledging its dark side opens the path to a more nuanced understanding of the dynamic in which misrecognition, rather than being its opposite, is enfolded within recognition.

Like many other countries, the Netherlands have witnessed increasing conditionality regarding the right to social assistance. To date, research paid little attention to how recipients themselves experience (in)justice in an increasingly conditional policy landscape. Based on 53 interviews with recipients, we distinguish three different ways of framing social assistance: as a right, a transaction, or a gift. Each frame gives way to particular ideas about social justice, legitimates different feelings and leads to othering of fellow social assistance recipients. Bringing together insights from the sociology of emotions and social justice literature, the article empirically shows the diversity of ideas and feelings regarding social justice, illuminates the role of framing and feeling rules in the process, and argues that increased conditionality produces steep divisions that undermine in-group solidarity.

Full participation is recognized as fundamental for the inclusion and wellbeing of people with intellectual disabilities. Only few studies have identified subjective meanings of participation from the perspective of people with intellectual disabilities themselves. Three cross-cutting themes that arise in the few studies that have are choice, social interaction and making a contribution. This ethnographic study of sheltered workshops in the Netherlands and Portugal takes this body of work a step further by investigating to what extent the ideal of participation is put into practice in such a way that it indeed contributes to these three elements. By including contrasting cases, it scrutinizes different ways of institutionalizing participation and the consequences this bears for the lived experiences of people with mild intellectual disabilities. The results show that there is a tension between choice on the one hand, and social interaction and making a contribution on the other.

Samenvatting Dit essay richt zich op de vraag hoe de bijstand rechtvaardiger kan: hoe kunnen baankansen voor bijstandsgerechtigden vergroot worden en hoe kan het bestaan in de bijstand rechtvaardiger? Onder rechtvaardigheid verstaan we, in navolging van politiek filosofe Nancy Fraser: herverdeling, erkenning en vertegenwoordiging. Op basis van recent onderzoek naar de bijstand, gebundeld in het boek Streng maar onrechtvaardig (), laten we zien hoe de bijstand op al deze drie aspecten van rechtvaardigheid tekortschiet. Vervolgens bespreken we verschillende opties voor een rechtvaardiger bestaan in en uit de bijstand die elkaar wederzijds aanvullen: basisinkomen, verhogen van de bijstandsuitkering, individualisering van het recht op bijstand, opleidingskansen, meer zekerheid op de arbeidsmarkt, arbeidspools en basisbanen. Trefwoorden: bijstand, rechtvaardigheid, arbeidsmarkt