Recognition Struggles of Young Danes Under the Work First Paradigm - a Study of Restricted and Generalised Agency

Abstract

Work has become ‘a normatively charged concept, one in which normative expectations and the current form of a society’s relation to work have become sedimented’ (Jaeggi, 2016 :70). Critical theorists have observed how work is linked to recognition and self-realization. Consequently, they see how unemployment can lead to a sense of alienation. Exploring the social practices among young entrepreneurial creative people receiving unemployment benefits in Denmark, we pose the following research question: how do young people in the unemployment benefit system work within and against the system? Based on interviews with young unemployed people conducted as part of a PhD (Pultz, 2017 ), we aim to unfold how the young people challenge the ‘work first paradigm’, including resisting the neoliberal understanding that human worth is determined by employment status. We combine insight from critical theory in order to understand the current work pathologies and apply the critical psychological concepts of restricted and expansive agency to shed light on how our sample engages in recognition struggles. They do so by seeking to gain influence over conditions and simultaneously resisting structures that restrict subjective agency in the spheres of love, achievement and rights. We will use this combined macro- and micro-level theoretical framework to analyse subjective reasoning for expansive agency embedded in an institutional and political context that reflects the work pathology diagnosis and produces its own dilemmas that need further understanding. Combining critical theory, more specifically Axel Honneth’s work on recognition with critical psychology, allows us to move beyond deterministic holds and to improve our understanding of agentic potential in society. Improving our understanding of how young unemployed people work within and against the system helps us better understand how individuals navigate the complex relations between societal structures and the self.

Planning for a Job

“…Spending time away from job searching and stepping out of the plan and participating in other regimes seemed to provide people with a sense of joy. These finding are in line with the findings by Pultz and Teasdale (2017), Demazière (2020), and Eschweiler and Pultz (2021). Having hobbies or engaging in meaningful often unpaid activities detached from the job search is identified as important for well-being and agency (Eschweiler & Pultz, 2021;Pultz & Teasdale, 2017).…”

“…These finding are in line with the findings by Pultz and Teasdale (2017), Demazière (2020), and Eschweiler and Pultz (2021). Having hobbies or engaging in meaningful often unpaid activities detached from the job search is identified as important for well-being and agency (Eschweiler & Pultz, 2021; Pultz & Teasdale, 2017). Demazière (2020) identified a successful job search strategy among former unemployed people as investing limited emotional resources in the job search to avoid a strong sense of defeat and rejection, thus resulting in making better job candidates.…”

“…From this perspective, these encounters involve “subjectification” (Pultz, 2016) and “roleplaying” (Boland, 2015), using the vocabulary of Foucault and Goffman, that have an effect within and outside of the walls of the employment office. They may lead to self-blame (Pultz, 2017; Sharone, 2013), stigma (Patrick, 2016; Whelan, 2021), shame (Pultz, 2018), loss of social citizenship (Dwyer, 2010), restricted agency and work first values (Eschweiler & Pultz, 2021), and democratic participation (Watson, 2015) as well as to occasional resistance (Baker & Davis, 2018; Nielsen, 2015).…”

The ‘narrow self’? Developing a critical‐historical work psychology

“…Yet, as Brown (2015) notes, the usefulness of dirty work changed under neoliberalism, as occupational value became increasingly defined by salary level and economic prestige (cf. Eschweiler & Pultz, 2021). Similarly, offsetting stigma by appealing to traditional notions of masculinity (e.g.…”

Untitled

“…Vores interesse ligger i de arbejdsløses vanskeligheder ved at håndtere en usikker situation, hvor fremtidig karriere, økonomi og selvtillid saettes på prøve, og hvor beskaeftigelsessystemet er et blandt mange elementer i de arbejdsløses liv. Vi placerer os i forlaengelse af socialpsykologiske studier, der undersøger arbejdsløshedserfaringen fra den lediges eget perspektiv for bedre at få greb om subjekternes agens (Eschweiler & Pultz 2021). Formålet med at tilgå feltet fra et subjektivt perspektiv er at få en bedre forståelse af, hvordan mennesker styres, og hvordan de selv aktivt forvalter denne styring (Pultz 2017).…”