Everything within the Market, Nothing against the Market, Nothing outside the Market: Neoliberal Deviants and Welfare Surveillance

Abstract

This article focuses on welfare surveillance as a sociological sub-discipline and a specifi c issue that has emerged in the past two decades in relation to the neoliberal revolution and the transformation of social systems in the West. The paper has three main goals: (1) a theoretical conceptualisation of welfare surveillance based on an analysis of existing empirical research; (2) an analysis of socio-practical manifestations and impacts of welfare surveillance; and (3) a contextualisation of the implementation of welfare surveillance within the Czech social milieu during recent social reforms. Within the scope of the fi rst two goals, the author shows that welfare surveillance is theoretically construed along the lines of a specifi c combination of social justice and neoliberal governmentality, and that welfare surveillance enables the application of specifi c illiberal practices to welfare applicants and recipients in order to effectively discipline and normalise them, which results in the stigmatisation and criminalisation of recipients. Given that there is relatively little research on surveillance in the Czech Republic, the article opens with an introduction to the issue of surveillance.

The Role of Sanctions in Frontline Work with Jobseekers

“…Podobným způsobem jsou sankce pojímány také v rámci "welfare surveillance", tedy v kontextu individualizovaného sledování a dohledu nad žadateli o služby sociálního státu (blíže viz Mertl, 2016Mertl, , 2017. Mertl (2016) a Janebová (2019) spojují welfare surveillance s prosazením neoliberálního diskurzu do sociální politiky.…”

“…Podobným způsobem jsou sankce pojímány také v rámci "welfare surveillance", tedy v kontextu individualizovaného sledování a dohledu nad žadateli o služby sociálního státu (blíže viz Mertl, 2016Mertl, , 2017. Mertl (2016) a Janebová (2019) spojují welfare surveillance s prosazením neoliberálního diskurzu do sociální politiky. Tyto přístupy jsou specificky uplatňovány vůči osobám, které jsou vnímány jako riziko nebo které nějak vybočují (diskurz podle Mertla chápe klienty sociálního státu jako devianty).…”

From Neoliberal Restriction to Control of the Roma-Towards Post-Neoliberal Ethnic Welfare

“…Welfare systems are increasingly judged not from the perspective of social justice or economic efficiency but, rather, from the perspective of their allegedly harmful effects on beneficiaries and society (Jensen & Tyler, 2015). The impact of neoliberalism on the retrenchment and increased conditionality of welfare has also been described by several authors in the Czech context, particularly during so-called social reform period of 2011/2012 (Mertl, 2016;Sirovatka, 2016). These reforms led to the reduction of protective functions in the country's welfare system and the increased stigmatisation of beneficiaries.…”

“…In practice, the most punitive measures, such as attendance control at Post Offices or unpaid obligatory public work, taken by the 2012 reforms were later revoked or ruled unconstitutional (Sirovátka, 2016); however, punitive approaches to benefit recipients remained part of the system of social assistance(Gřundělová, 2021;Mertl, 2016).…”