Creeping Conditionality in the UK: From Welfare Rights to Conditional Entitlements?

Dwyer, Peter

doi:10.1353/cjs.2004.0022

Cited by 144 publications

(98 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Clarke, 2005;Dwyer, 2000Dwyer, , 2004Lister, 2002;Lund, 1999). For example, in 2002 the entitlement to unemployment benefit -and indeed to a range of other benefits -was made contingent upon the individual attending regular meetings with an adviser at Job Centre Plus (Dwyer, 2004).…”

Section: Welfare Reformmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effortful citizen: Discursive social psychology and welfare reform

Gibson

2009

Community & Applied Soc Psy

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The present study applies a broadly discursive approach to the representation of welfare reform and unemployment through an analysis of the deployment of an interpretative repertoire of effortfulness in posts to an internet discussion forum. It is argued that when posters construct versions of unemployed people or welfare recipients as characterized by ‘laziness’ or lack of ‘effort’ the attribution of responsibility for unemployment is frequently not the only piece of discursive business being attended to. In addition, posters attend to issues of their own accountability and, significantly, the accountability of the government or welfare system itself for the extent to which welfare recipients are formally held to account. It is argued that this approach extends previous social psychological work on the explanation of unemployment insofar as it pays attention to the context‐specific functions performed by such explanations. Moreover, in orienting to the welfare system as having a responsibility to hold welfare recipients to account, posters are drawing on a set of discursive resources which essentially treat the government of individual psychology as a legitimate function of the welfare system. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Section: Welfare Reformmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effortful citizen: Discursive social psychology and welfare reform

Gibson

2009

Community & Applied Soc Psy

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“…As in other European welfare states, however, the welfare landscape in England is currently undergoing significant political and ideological change, dating from neoliberal reforms in the last decades of the twentieth century (Dwyer, 2004, De Vogli, 2011.The British welfare state, like others in Europe, was built on a pay-asyou-go social contract between those in and outside of the labour market; where in general each generation up until now has received back roughly what it has invested in (Walker, 2012 Dwyer (2004), in relation to benefits for those of working age, has called 'creeping conditionality', in which entitlements formerly based on implicit contracts of social citizenship rights become reframed as individualised behavioural interventions. This represents a significant qualitative shift from a post-war welfare contract based upon notions of need and entitlement, towards the notion that rights are conditional on the acceptance of attendant individual responsibilities (Dwyer 2004).…”

Section: Generational Habitus and The Welfare Landscape In Englandmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This represents a significant qualitative shift from a post-war welfare contract based upon notions of need and entitlement, towards the notion that rights are conditional on the acceptance of attendant individual responsibilities (Dwyer 2004). …”

Section: Generational Habitus and The Welfare Landscape In Englandmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding welfare conditionality in the context of a generational habitus: A qualitative study of older citizens in England

Milton

Buckner

Salway

et al. 2015

Journal of Aging Studies

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HighlightsOlder adults in England narrated experiences as generational.'Our generation' was characterised as having struggled to achieve self-reliance Receipt of universal age-related benefits was congruent with generational habitus Means and needs based conditionality fostered discourses of differentiation.Increasing conditionality may promote division within and between generations 3 Understanding welfare conditionality in the context of a generational habitus: a qualitative study of older citizens in England. AbstractIn many welfare states, 'austerity' policies have ignited debates about the fairness and cost-effectiveness of universal welfare benefits, with benefits received by older citizens a particular topic of concern. Empirical studies suggest that conditionality generates problems of access and uptake but, to date, there has been little research on how different conditions of entitlement are understood by older citizens. This study drew on interviews with 29 older citizens from three areas of England to explore how eligibility for and uptake of different kinds of welfare benefits were understood. In interviews, current entitlement was understood in relation to a generational habitus, in which 'our generation' was framed as sharing cohort experiences, and moral orientations to self-reliance, hard work and struggle.Entitlement to some welfare benefits was taken for granted as a reward owed by the state to its citizens for hard-earned lives. State transfers such as pensions, free travel and fuel subsidies were congruent with a nationalised generational habitus, and fostered recognition, self-worth and the sense of a generation as a collective. In contrast, transfers contingent on economic or need-based conditionality were more explicitly framed as 'benefits', and negatively associated with vulnerability and moral contestation. Uptake was therefore often incompatible with their generational habitus. Calls for introducing further conditionality to benefits for older adults are often based on claims that this will increase fairness and equality. Our analysis 4 suggests, however, that introducing conditionality has the potential to promote inequality and foster differentiation and division, within the older population and between generations.

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“…A principle of exchange then for 'consumer citizens' amounts to a principle of fairness: if an individual has put into the system then they are entitled to get something out. This 'creeping conditionality' transforms citizenship entitlements into provisional goods accorded by prescribed forms of contribution and behaviour (Dwyer, 2004).…”

Section: 'Fair' Austerity?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Age of Austerity: Contesting the Ethical Basis and Financial Sustainability of Welfare Reform in Europe

Edmiston

2014

Journal of Contemporary European Studies

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This paper examines the policy of austerity in three European welfare regimes with differing levels of social spending and fiscal balance: Italy, Sweden and the UK. In spite of significant material differences between the three countries, the paper begins by illustrating that there is ultimately convergence in their responses to the economic crisis. These welfare regimes have justified the terms of austerity by suggesting that economic and welfare reforms address questions of 'need', 'fairness' and 'sustainability'. Contrary to dominant political and policy rationale, the paper demonstrates that austerity measures in each country fail to meet policy objectives given their own conceptions of social and distributive justice. The three welfare regimes lack cogent strategies to safeguard their financial sustainability and this results in a neo-liberal paradigm that compromises the ethical and internal coherence of austerity.

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Creeping Conditionality in the UK: From Welfare Rights to Conditional Entitlements?

Cited by 144 publications

References 38 publications

The effortful citizen: Discursive social psychology and welfare reform

The effortful citizen: Discursive social psychology and welfare reform

Understanding welfare conditionality in the context of a generational habitus: A qualitative study of older citizens in England

The Age of Austerity: Contesting the Ethical Basis and Financial Sustainability of Welfare Reform in Europe

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