New mindsets to innovate activation

Abstract

People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website. • The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review. • The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers. Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal.

Conditionality and contentment: Universal Credit and UK welfare benefit recipients’ life satisfaction

“…In many developed welfare states, conditions emphasise labour market activity, whereby claimants must demonstrate that they are working or actively seeking employment. Such schemes have been characterised as 'workfare' (Peck, 2001) or 'activation policy' (Bierbaum, 2019).…”

“…Whitworth (2016) argues that conditional welfare programmes carry ideological contradictions, because they simultaneously encourage independence and responsibility, while paternalistically imposing conditions so that claimants behave 'correctly'. Bierbaum (2019) notes that, in the Netherlands' conditional Participation Act, a very narrow view of autonomy is endorsed, emphasising financial self-sufficiency, but disregarding authentic freedom. Others highlight stigmatisation, connecting caricatures of 'skivers' and 'strivers' with Victorian notions of the deserving and undeserving poor (Valentine & Harris, 2014).…”