Caught between the local and the (trans)national:

Ratzmann, Nora

doi:10.2307/j.ctv2p7j5g7.11

Cited by 2 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Different methodological approaches are combined in order to gauge this particular complexity. Data from an extensive qualitative study on the welfare experience of non‐German EU citizens (Ratzmann, 2019) are used in the first step as a means to explore our theoretical considerations empirically. The findings are then evaluated quantitatively with help of a record linkage between surveys and register data of benefit recipients.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The qualitative data presented here are part of an in‐depth study of implementation dynamics in German job centres. Insights were drawn from a data set of 105 semi‐structured interviews on migrants' experiences of claiming social assistance benefits, with a particular focus on intra‐EU citizens residing in Germany (for details see Ratzmann, 2019, p. 78). Interviews, which lasted between 15 and 180 min each, were conducted with three groups: (i) key informants, including policy‐makers, specialised service providers performing social and labour market integration services for the job centre, legal experts, migrant advisory and advocacy agencies (32 interviews), (ii) intra‐EU migrants (16 interviews) and (iii) job centre staff (55 interviews).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The exploratory findings highlighted in this paper stem from conversations with job centre representatives on different levels of the hierarchy (from the local job centre director to assistant administrators) and within the main organisational units: (i) the labour market integration/advisory teams, (ii) the benefits/payment teams, and the (iii) entrance zone/reception teams. Variance in terms of gender, years of work experience, educational level and country of origin was taken into account whenever possible (for details see Ratzmann, 2019, pp. 85–88).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They explained how they make their decisions contingent on compliance, in line with the legislative framework on benefit sanctions:

‘As soon as a claimant shows cooperative behaviour, I am willing to give him or her my full support and even finance expensive measures such as a job coaching […] You definitively notice who wants to […] be on board’ (INT 1).

‘I first have a look how people behave towards me. If someone has a problem and has no other opportunity [than to come to ask for support at the job centre], I am very happy to help’ (INT2).The qualitative material also alluded to a range of socio‐economic factors shaping such administrative decisions, including class and educational background as well as professional role conceptions, which, however, goes beyond the scope of this article (for details see Ratzmann, 2019).…”

Section: Exploring the Context With Help Of Qualitative Interviewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Protected against all odds? A mixed‐methods study on the risk of welfare sanctions for immigrants in Germany

2021

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Sanctions are payment cuts that case managers implement in order to discipline welfare recipients. Previous research suggests that immigrants face a particularly high risk to receive such reductions, primarily due to the prevalence of stereotyping in street‐level bureaucracy. The study contributes to this literature with help of a triangulation between in‐depth interviews, survey data and administrative records for the case of the German social assistance system. Our findings indicate that immigrants tend to be sanctioned at a lower rate than other benefit recipients in this context, especially if they arrived at the country only recently on grounds of international protection. This finding can be explained by the importance of reciprocity and control in the country's ‘Bismarckian’ welfare state. Our qualitative data shows that case managers exert a considerable level of agency over the implementation process. This discretion is, on the one hand, used to discipline benefit recipients who are perceived as having contributed little to the welfare system as a whole through taxes and social insurance contributions. Those who are considered to have limited control over their labour market position, on the other hand, are given a certain degree of leeway. We therefore conclude, against the background of the current street‐level bureaucracy literature, that immigration can also act as a deservingness cue in means‐tested social assistance, given that the benefit system is embedded into a welfare regime in which labour market participation, work‐testing and social insurance contributions are the dominating principles of eligibility.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They explained how they make their decisions contingent on compliance, in line with the legislative framework on benefit sanctions:

Section: Exploring the Context With Help Of Qualitative Interviewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Protected against all odds? A mixed‐methods study on the risk of welfare sanctions for immigrants in Germany

2021

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“…By providing access for otherwise unentitled migrants, welfare actors can consequently influence migration policy aims, amounting to indirect migration control. Most existing research on the migration control-social policy nexus focuses on this dimension and explores marginalised migrants' access to welfare, in particular at the local or regional level (Piccoli, 2020;Spencer, 2020;Dobbs and Levitt, 2017;Ratzmann, 2019).…”

Section: Direct Migration Control Through Social Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Delegating migration control to local welfare actors: Reporting obligations in practice

Bruzelius

Ratzmann²,

Reiss

2023

Journal of European Social Policy

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Most research on the social policy–migration control link focuses on indirect control, that is, denying access to welfare. This article instead draws attention to how welfare institutions are made directly involved in migration control through duties to report certain categories of migrants to migration authorities. We ask how these obligations are put into practice and how local governments shape this process. In so doing, we place special emphasis on local organisational fields – that is, the close horizontal connection between public and non-public actors involved in basic needs provision. The article builds on exploratory research across four German cities, drawing on 61 interviews conducted in 2019–2020 with welfare actors catering to basic needs (housing/shelter, healthcare, social assistance, social counselling) and document research. Based on this, we, first, explore patterns of reporting practices and provide a typology of different responses, ranging from elaborate circumvention strategies to over-compliance. Second, we analyse the domino effects of reporting obligations, namely how welfare actors that are exempted from reporting adopt their practices too, with consequences both for migrants' welfare access and for other authorities' ability to report. Finally, we discuss how local governments can shape reporting practices, demonstrating how some cities actively sanction circumvention strategies. The last part identifies venues for further research.

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Caught between the local and the (trans)national:

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Protected against all odds? A mixed‐methods study on the risk of welfare sanctions for immigrants in Germany

Protected against all odds? A mixed‐methods study on the risk of welfare sanctions for immigrants in Germany

Delegating migration control to local welfare actors: Reporting obligations in practice

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