‘I volunteer at home too!’ Gendering affective citizenship

Abstract

This article argues for gendering affective citizenship and humanitarianism. Both of these ‘regimes of care’ are understood to work through benevolent affect, to mobilize citizens in the wake of the retrenchment of the welfare state. Ethnography with Italian-origin women volunteers at a Milanese association shows that the affect and motivations of affective citizens can starkly deviate from benevolence and ‘do-gooderism’. Analyses of post-Fordist affective citizenship focus on the shift from waged labour and state-mediated forms of social security to precarious labour and privatized responsibilities for welfare, implicitly centring the (male) breadwinner as the subject of these transformations. By contrast, this article seeks to call attention to the continuities in unwaged care. In so doing, it shows how the Fordist legacy of gendered citizenship ‘haunts’ its post-Fordist affective and humanitarian reconfigurations and highlights the contradictions and contestations that mark ongoing transformations of social citizenship in Europe.

Smart energy systems beyond the age of COVID-19: Towards a new order of monitoring, disciplining and sanctioning energy behavior?

“…However, the phenomenon of “smart” quarantine has also been observed, which may lead to increased use of and receptiveness to smart technologies through the upgrading of housing [ [212] , [213] ]. More and more activities from home play a role, which includes engagement and volunteering [ 214 ]. Thus, the notion of home as a “private space, and digital technology and surveillance in the home” [ 215 ] is gaining scope, especially in its implications for privacy [ 216 ].…”

L’État par ­­l’intime. Techniques et ambiguïtés du gouvernement par l’intimité en Europe

“…La charge affective intense peut également prendre une forme négative, celle d'explosions régulières de colère ou de mécontentement suscitées par l'adoption de règles plus strictes sur les retards, ou dirigées contre d'autres bénévoles ou même contre des participant•es (Marchesi, 2021). Occasionnellement, des bénévoles de ParlaMa, insistant pour appliquer les règles, refusent des mères accompagnées de jeunes enfants pour des retards ; cela suscite le désaccord d'autres bénévoles, qui voient dans ce geste une application rigide par l'association de règles auto-imposées.…”

Intimate States

“…S1; figs. S1-S4 are available online; De Wilde and Duyvendak 2016;Marchesi 2020;Newman and Tonkens 2011;Vollebergh 2016Vollebergh , 2020a.…”

“…Affective governance created dynamics that professionals and volunteers neither fully intended nor controlled, causing a continuing need to defuse and expel "affective excess," or affect that escapes its "desired outcomes" (Anderson 2010:163). Most problematically, this affective excess posed important questions about the precise status of the relationship between professionals/volunteers and the "intimate publics" (Marchesi 2020) they sought to create, engendering confusion about the proper limits to intimacy in professional contexts, as well as rumors of favoritism and unfairness.…”

“…The techniques through which professionals and volunteers sought to foster participation and tie people to their programs were many, and several of them have already been hinted at in the sections above. Professionals focused on spatial and relational strategies to mobilize their public, turning community centers, rooms, and outdoor squares into an intimate public (Marchesi 2020;Vollebergh 2020a; see also De Wilde 2016) with homey decorations, sofas and toys, warm colors, and a welcoming stance described in the introduction-greeting people with hugs and kisses and being available to offer a listening ear (fig. S4).…”