Pressing, repressing and accommodating: local modes of governing social assistance recipients in welfare to work programmes in the Netherlands

2020 ◽  
pp. 211-236
Author(s):  
Josien Arts
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Case Managers ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Discretionary Power ◽  
Local Modes ◽  
Local Practices ◽  
Republican Theory

This chapter shows the differences between local welfare-to-work programmes in the Netherlands in terms of the ways in which social assistance recipients are directed towards paid labour: through pressing, repressing and accommodating modes of governing. Based on 13-month ethnographic research in three Dutch social assistance offices, this chapter argues, first, that the observed local differences result from decentralisation of policy design and implementation as well as increased discretionary power for case managers. Second, that the different local practices can be understood as varieties of neoliberal paternalism legitimised through various forms of stigmatisation of social assistance recipients that leave little room for them to revolt against disfunctioning policy and wrongful treatment. Third, by means of using the republican theory of non-domination, this chapter argues that the observed local differences (between as well as within municipalities) and limited room for social assistance recipients to voice their concerns indicate that Dutch welfare-to-work policies work partly in arbitrary ways and are insufficiently democratically controlled.

Welfare to work, social justice and domination: an introduction to an interdisciplinary normative perspective on welfare policies

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Anja Eleveld ◽  
Thomas Kampen ◽  
Josien Arts
Keyword(s):  
Social Assistance ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Philosophical Perspective ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Legal Literature ◽  
Legal Perspective ◽  
Assistance Systems ◽  
Republican Theory ◽  
Normative Perspective

In the last decades, rights to social assistance benefits have become more conditional. Governments in Europe, as in other welfare states, have sought to ‘activate’ their unemployed citizens by requiring them to participate in mandatory work programmes. This chapter examines how liberal and communitarian thinkers have justified or rejected welfare-to-work (WTW) policies within social assistance systems and how these policies have been legitimised by key notions of inclusion, responsibilisation, employability and empowerment, which correspond with liberal and communitarian justifications of WTW. Drawing on critical socio-legal literature, the authors question these justifications and clarify their decision to explore WTW from a threefold normative perspective that takes into account: 1) power relations and human social rights (the legal perspective); 2) lived experiences within WTW relationships, including endemic power asymmetries and perceptions of justice (the sociological perspective); and 3) the republican theory of non-domination (the philosophical perspective). The last part of this chapter introduces the chapters of this book.

Heeft de evaluatie van reïntegratiebeleid nog toekomst?

2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Koning
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Evaluation Studies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Labour Market Policies ◽  
Active Labour Market Policies ◽  
Active Labour ◽  
Proper Account

Does the evaluation of active labour market policies have any future? Does the evaluation of active labour market policies have any future? The literature on the effectiveness of welfare-to-work services (i.e. schooling and job counseling) in the Netherlands provides a gloomy picture. First, only a few studies take proper account of selectivity and endogeneity biases. Second, the results of this (subset of) studies suggest that both schooling and counseling have only a modest, or no significant impact. In this article, I discuss various explanations for these findings. Furthermore, I describe various avenues for future research in this area, as well as the organization of more sound evaluation studies.

scholarly journals Trees and springs as social property: a perspective on degrowth and redistributive democracy from a Brazilian squatter community

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan DeVore
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Private Ownership ◽  
Property A ◽  
Public Interests ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Local Practices ◽  
Ecologically Sustainable ◽  
Natural Springs

Abstract Questions concerning the maldistribution of property and productive resources continue to inform debates about how to bring about societies that are livable, equitable, and ecologically sustainable. In the diverse imaginaries of revolutionary, utopian, socialist, and anti-capitalist politics—together with their adversaries— the notions of "collective" and "private" property have often been conceived as mutually exclusive and exhaustive alternatives. Drawing from several years of ethnographic research with rural squatters in the cacao lands of Bahia, Brazil, the author brings together alternative ways of conceptualizing property that can help overcome this lingering dichotomy and fruitfully inform new political projects. The article examines local practices of property-making through two cases focused on the private ownership and stewardship of natural springs, and the processes whereby squatters convert forest into agroforest. The analysis highlights the ways in which these "private" properties are intersected by "public" interests and "collective" practices, while considering the different kinds of relations that these intersections afford among people and between humans and the non-human environment. Based on these cases, the author suggests that current conversations about "degrowth" may benefit by drawing together frameworks from political ecology, economic anthropology, and property jurisprudence. The presentation concludes by highlighting potential synergies between concerns for degrowth and claims for property democratization. Key Words: degrowth; redistributive democracy; squatters; agroforests; water resources; property rights; private property; commoning; cacao zone; Atlantic Forest; Brazil

Ethical dilemmas and challenges in ethnographic migration research

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-291
Author(s):  
Martha Montero-Sieburth
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Ethical Dilemmas ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Migration Research ◽  
The Us

PurposeArgued is the need for: (1) a clearer interpretation of procedural ethics guidelines; (2) the identification and development of ethical field case study models which can be incorporated into university ethics teaching; (3) an understanding of the vulnerabilities of researchers and participants as reflected in the researchers' positionality and reflexivity and (4) ethnographic monitoring as a participant-friendly and participatory ethics methodology.Design/methodology/approachThis article, drawn from the author's four-decade trajectory of collective ethnographic research, addresses the ethical challenges and dilemmas encountered by researchers when conducting ethnographic research, particularly with vulnerable migrant women and youth.FindingsThe author addresses dilemmas in field research resulting from different interpretations of ethics and emphasizes the need for researchers to be critically aware of their own vulnerabilities and those of migrants to avoid unethical practices in validating the context(s), language(s), culture and political landscape of their study.Research limitations/implicationsThe author presents case studies from the US and the Netherlands, underlining her positionality and reflexivity and revisits Dell Hymes' ethnographic monitoring approach as a participant-friendly, bottom-up methodology which enables researchers to co-construct knowledge with participants and leads to participatory ethics.Practical implicationsShe presents case studies from the US and the Netherlands underlining her positionality and reflexivity and revisits Dell Hymes’ ethnographic monitoring approach as a participant-friendly, bottom up methodology which enables researchers to co-construct knowledge with participants and engage in participatory ethics.Social implicationsFinally, she proposes guidelines for the ethical conduct of research with migrant populations that contribute to the broader methodological debates currently taking place in qualitative migration research.Originality/valueExpected from this reading is the legacy that as a qualitative migration researcher one can after 4 decades of research leave behind as caveats and considerations in working with vulnerable migrants and the ethical dilemmas and challenges that need to be overcome.

scholarly journals Pedagogies of optimism: Teaching to ‘look forward’ in activating welfare programmes in the Netherlands

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josien Arts ◽  
Marguerite Van Den Berg
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Case Managers ◽  
The State

In the context of the Dutch welfare state, precarisation entails particular pedagogies: citizens are taught how to feel about being insecure through the techniques of (1) accepting; (2) controlling; and (3) imagining. Welfare activation thus focuses on teaching citizens to accept their precarious position, to embrace it and to prepare for its continuation while remaining optimistic about its discontinuation. Perhaps cruelly, then, the state teaches citizens to develop optimism towards certain imagined futures while at the same time acknowledging the unattainability of these futures. Importantly, case managers in Dutch welfare offices are often precarious themselves too, making the affective labour they perform both difficult and essential for themselves. Contemporary activation and workfare programmes are therefore best understood as characterised by insecurity and precarisation on both the receiving and the providing end of state–citizen encounters.

scholarly journals Weighing up Work Willingness in Social Assistance: A Balancing Act on Multiple Levels

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 718-737 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjolijn De Wilde ◽  
Sarah Marchal
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Case Manager ◽  
Individual Case ◽  
Case Managers ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Organizational Setting ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
Vignette Experiment ◽  
Welfare Agencies

Abstract In all European countries, social assistance legislation specifies that the receipt of benefits is conditional upon the willingness to work. Nevertheless, the manner in which such policies are implemented in practice has remained a black box. From the literature on social policy, social work, and social administration, we know that implementation is the result of decisions at multiple levels. To our knowledge, however, this study is the first quantitative attempt to bring together the insights from these various strands of literature into a combined assessment of factors that determine willingness-to-work assessments. We build on an innovative and purpose-designed survey of social workers in Belgium. We identified factors determining the perceptions of 584 case managers, clustered in 89 municipalities, with regard to sanction decisions upon job refusal, based on almost 5,000 experimentally varied client cases (vignette experiment). These unique data make it possible to distinguish between the effects of case managers who assess individual cases and characteristics of the local welfare agencies and municipalities in which they operate. The results reveal relatively little variation between municipalities, which can be largely explained by characteristics of the municipalities (e.g. political ideology and organizational setting). Surprisingly, however, we find extensive variation at the case-manager level. Although some of this variation remains unexplained, a substantial share can be explained by characteristics of individual case managers (e.g. age and attitudes concerning the welfare state). This finding raises concerns about the unintended consequences of the broad discretion granted to case managers within contemporary social assistance schemes.

scholarly journals Introduction

Focaal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (77) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barak Kalir ◽  
Willem van Schendel
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Individual State ◽  
Discretionary Power ◽  
State Agents ◽  
Local Levels

In this theme section we explore why and when states knowingly refrain from recording people and their activities. States are not simply in pursuit of enhanced “legibility”; at times they also need to be able to “look away.” In explaining strategies of nonrecording, our focus is on how subjects negotiate with state recording agencies, how nonrecording relieves state agents from the burden of accountability, how the discretionary power of individual state agents affects (non)recording in unanticipated ways, and how states may project an illusion of vigorous recording internationally while actually engaging in deliberate nonrecording. Presenting case studies from China, Greece, the Netherlands, India, and Romania, we show that strategies of nonrecording are flexible, selective, and aimed at certain populations—and that both citizens and noncitizens can be singled out for nonrecording or derecording. In analyzing this state-produced social oblivion, divergences between national and local levels are of crucial significance.

scholarly journals Challenges and Risks of Individualisation in The Netherlands

2004 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trudie Knijn
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Child Support ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Economic Independence

This article evaluates recent transformations in social policy that reflect the tendency towards individualisation in The Netherlands. Such transformations have taken place in old age pensions, widows' pensions, social assistance and taxation, and in respect of child support following divorce. Interestingly most reforms have not resulted in ‘full individualisation’, but rather have taken into account the fact that people, in particular women, are not or cannot be assumed to be full-time adult workers. Such a ‘moderate individualisation’, however, is not without risks for women's economic independence, especially when the developments of the Dutch ‘life course perspective’ on social security are considered.

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