Developing capabilities and rights in welfare-to-work policies

Dean, Hartley; Bonvin, Jean‐Michel; Vielle, Pascale; Farvaque, Nicolas

doi:10.1080/1461669042000327009

Cited by 81 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Firstly, while it is self-evident that social policies are not homogeneous entities it is only field investigation of these programs that makes this visible (Dubois 2009, p. 234). As discussed in the first part of this article, existing governmentality studies of personalized planning programs focus on official pronouncements and are abstracted from the actual spaces and subjects where they are brought into practice (Dean 1995, Cruikshank 1996, Dean et al 2005, see Dean 1998, McDonald and Marston 2005. In terms of existing studies on reforms to Australia's system of income support for parents, most make rather fleeting, broad-brush statements about reforms to income support for single parents (Baker 1998, Shaver 2002, Hill 2006, Brennan 2007.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Researching governmentalities through ethnography: the case of Australian welfare reforms and programs for single parents

Brady

2011

Critical Policy Studies

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In this article I argue that the spaces of freedom and constraint that personalized planning programs targeted at Australian single parents open up and close down are distinctly different when viewed from a top-down perspective of governmental rationalities as compared to a bottom-up perspective, or what Foucault referred to as the 'witches' brew' of actual practices. Around 90% of single parents with dependent children in Australia are single mothers, and around 80% of these single mothers receive single rate Parenting Payment. Changes to this payment (and its precursor, Sole Parent Pension) over the last 25 years have recognized this gendered composition by focusing on issues of mothering and the intensive activities of care that continue to be carried out most commonly by mothers. While the existing literature argues that the 2005 Welfare to Work package sharply broke with this practice by not focusing on gender and the unique features of mothers' life courses, I find that these considerations have remained a key part of the 'witches' brew' of actual practices. Given this finding, a key argument is that studies of governmentalities which combine sociologies of actual practices together with studies of official governmental rationalities can make important critical contributions to understanding the heterogeneous logics and practices through which welfare reform policies occur.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Researching governmentalities through ethnography: the case of Australian welfare reforms and programs for single parents

Brady

2011

Critical Policy Studies

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“…Instead of triggering reactions emphasizing mutual rights and duties among state, society, and jobless people, the institutionalization of a residual welfare state reinforces the idea that support should be restricted to a very limited number of people. As a consequence, it focuses on people who will easily find employment, a further stigmatization of the unemployed, in particular beneficiaries with multiple problems and a culture of self-blame that decreases their chances for job insertion (Dean 2003;Dean et al 2005;Bonvin and Farvaque 2007;Sztandar-Sztanderska, 2009).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

The Mobilization of the Unemployed in Europe

Chabanet¹,

Faniel²

2012

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“…On the contrary, it is up to the public institution to create opportunities for citizens to develop their capabilities for action and for making choices. From this perspective, both the formally recognized social rights of individuals and the diverse social and institutional mechanisms that convert these rights into capabilities, including the capabilities for voice, are encompassed (Dean et al . 2005).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Activation and Local Welfare in Italy: Trends and Issues

2008

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This article deals with the development of local welfare in Italy and is grounded on a research project focusing on activation as a main feature of change in Italian social policies. Along with decentralization processes, many Italian regions have been acting as policy laboratories, developing and testing very different approaches according to their political attitude. On the one hand this results in a fragmented policy landscape which is difficult to recompose, and, moreover, in growing inequalities in the Italian welfare system. On the other hand, it opens opportunities for experimentation on institutional and organizational structures on a regional scale, creating a variety of practices for research and policy analysis. In the article we first describe the main trends in national social policies, with a specific focus on the dynamics of change referring to activation. We will then focus on a pilot programme which is aiming at the promotion and implementation of innovative practices in health and social care services in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, a region in which there is a significant orientation towards enhancing social citizenship and enforcing the central position of the public actor. We investigate how the dynamics of territorialization and personalization, implied by the programme, trigger specific logics and practices of activation. Finally, referring to this case study, we propose an analytical overview of some relevant issues in the development of 'local active welfare' in Italy.

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Developing capabilities and rights in welfare-to-work policies

Abstract: Developing capabilities and rights in welfare-to-work policies. European societies, 7 (1). pp. 3-26.

Cited by 81 publications

References 15 publications

Researching governmentalities through ethnography: the case of Australian welfare reforms and programs for single parents

Researching governmentalities through ethnography: the case of Australian welfare reforms and programs for single parents

The Mobilization of the Unemployed in Europe

Activation and Local Welfare in Italy: Trends and Issues

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