The Discursive Construction of the German Welfare State: Interests and Institutionality

McGill, Kenneth

doi:10.1111/j.1548-1395.2009.01034.x

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…In reality, however, a summons of this sort is accompanied by the threat of sanctions for those who do not appear, and thus it can hardly be said to constitute an “invitation” in the normal sense of the word. Like the invitation agreement ( Eingliederungsvereinbarung ), which caseworkers are empowered to sign both on their own behalf and on behalf of their unemployed clients as counterparties (see McGill ), and much like the historically recent emergence of the term “customer” ( Kunden ) to describe these very clients, it is a rather simple matter to expose the name given to this bureaucratic procedure as an ideological ruse. The “invitations” sent by Jobcenter caseworkers are, in point of fact, not invitations at all.…”

Section: Subjectivity Ideology and Namesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of course, it is precisely this sort of historically entrenched opposition between public opinion and private obedience that is at the center of Christel's critique. She draws our attention to the peculiar way in which opinion is generally regarded as protected speech only in certain contexts, and that welfare‐state clients are compelled to interact with their caseworkers on the sort of private footing that negates this context (see McGill [] for similar analysis—an article that Christel brought to our first meeting, highlighting precisely this portion of the text).…”

Section: From Discontinuity To Tendencymentioning

confidence: 99%

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“Tangled Up in These Conceptualities”: Sanction, Protest, and Ideology in Berlin, Germany

McGill

2017

American Anthropologist

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This article examines one informant's approach to the relationship between ideological concepts and political power. I argue that ideological representation must be understood on its own terms, rather than within a larger theory of discourse. I point toward three key qualities of every encounter with ideological representation: subjectivity, discontinuity, and commitment. The fieldwork on which this article is based occurred in Berlin, Germany, during the fall 2014. During this period, my research focused on activists committed to overturning the sanctioning policy (Sanktionspolitik), which allows case managers to dock the unemployment benefits of their clients. [ideology, subjectivity, welfare state, Germany] RESUMEN Este artículo examina la aproximación de un informante a la relación entre conceptos ideológicos y poder político. Argumento que la representación ideológica debe ser entendida en sus propios términos, más que dentro de una teoría más amplia del discurso. Llamo la atención hacia tres cualidades claves de cada encuentro con una representación ideológica: subjetividad, discontinuidad y compromiso. El trabajo de campo en el cual se basa este artículo ocurrió en Berlín, Alemania, durante el otoño de 2014. Durante este período, mi investigación se enfocó en los activistas comprometidos con anular la política de sanciones (Sanktionspolitik), la cual permite a los gestores de casos recortar los subsidios de desempleo de sus clientes. [ideología, subjetividad, estado de bienestar, Alemania]

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Section: Subjectivity Ideology and Namesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: From Discontinuity To Tendencymentioning

confidence: 99%

“Tangled Up in These Conceptualities”: Sanction, Protest, and Ideology in Berlin, Germany

McGill

2017

American Anthropologist

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“…Among “undergrounder” polygamous Mormons of the late‐19th‐century United States, opposition to a panoptic state that claims to represent public interest is cultivated around the figure of the “spy” and codes of silence (Smith 2009). In the very different social terrain of (former East) German state welfare offices, however, a normative public–private distinction articulates with participant role structures in institutional encounters so as to make it impossible for welfare recipients to inhabit the “public” role that is envisaged for them by the state bureaucracy (McGill 2009).…”

Section: The Politics Of Publicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linguistic Anthropology at the End of the Naughts: A Review of 2009

Cody

2010

American Anthropologist

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Here I consider some of the major themes that emerged in linguistic anthropology in 2009, focusing on intersections with other disciplinary fields. Research on globalization, citizenship, publics, footing, and register formation shows how linguistic anthropology has developed a distinctive set of tools to address broad questions in the human sciences. The subdiscipline remains centrally concerned with the semiotic qualities specific to language and the forms of social life that these qualities enable. "Language" has not yet dissolved into a weak adjective in quite the same way that "culture" or "society" seem to have done, and much of the most sophisticated conceptual work on the semiotics of life lived collectively continues to focus on the concrete aspects of this multifaceted phenomenon.Linguistic anthropology maintains a relatively stable theoretical core compared to its subdisciplinary siblings, even if few of us would agree on what constitutes the limits of the field.

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“…When I reviewed articles on circulation in the Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, I found the topics evenly split between the process and content of circulation. Examples of content are -Appalachian whiteness‖ (Puckett 2001) and -German welfare state‖ (McGill 2009).…”

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confidence: 99%

Kazakh‐Speaking University Students Proverbial Perspectives on Community: Circulation Studies and Frame Analysis in Tandem

Aasland¹

2010

Student Anthropologist

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Past attempts at using proverbs for cultural analysis have provided questionable results. There has been an overreliance on comparable proverbs from other cultures (Mieder 1981) or the search for “underlying” static cultural traits (Bartlotti 2000). The current paper explores the potential of using frame analysis (Goffman 1974; Johnston 2002; Snow 1986) and circulation studies (Spitulnik 2001) as methods better suited to explicating societal change. The two methods are complementary: circulation studies aiding understanding of the process of proverb use; frame analysis allowing for insight on the meaning of familiar proverbs. Rather than explore perspectives of the culture in general, I selected college students in Almaty, Kazakhstan as the group to be investigated. The current generation of students in Kazakhstan is unique, since they have only known an independent and Post‐Soviet fatherland. As they have grown up, the country has been in the throes of redefining itself as a society. Part of this process has been reestablishing Kazakh as the national language. Field research was carried out among university students at the Kazakh National Technical University in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Surveys provided information about the most familiar proverbs out of the proverb set concerning “community”. Analysis of the survey results showed that the population functions using proverbs as a speech community, a group able to communicate with each other effectively. Surveys and proverb encounter reenactments will provide the type of data necessary for circulation studies and frame analysis to establish a baseline concerning proverbial perspectives concerning “community” among Kazakh‐speaking college students.

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The Discursive Construction of the German Welfare State: Interests and Institutionality

Cited by 3 publications

References 13 publications

“Tangled Up in These Conceptualities”: Sanction, Protest, and Ideology in Berlin, Germany

“Tangled Up in These Conceptualities”: Sanction, Protest, and Ideology in Berlin, Germany

Linguistic Anthropology at the End of the Naughts: A Review of 2009

Kazakh‐Speaking University Students Proverbial Perspectives on Community: Circulation Studies and Frame Analysis in Tandem

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