The Fragility of Self-Respect: Emotional Labour of Workfare Volunteering

Kampen, Thomas; Elshout, Jan J.; Tonkens, Evelien

doi:10.1017/s1474746413000067

Cited by 30 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Participants often talked (directly or indirectly) about perceived or anticipated negative social reactions regarding their SEP, or they used compensation strategies to cope with (real or anticipated) negative reactions and to maintain their self-respect. Similar results were found in recent studies by Kampen, Elshout and Tonkens [39, 50], who found that long-term unemployed Dutch people struggled with self-esteem and self-respect, and that they also felt inferior, looked down upon and ashamed.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

The silent burden of stigmatisation: a qualitative study among Dutch people with a low socioeconomic position

et al. 2018

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BackgroundIn-depth qualitative research into perceived socioeconomic position-related stigmatisation among people living at the lower end of our socioeconomic hierarchy is necessary for getting more insight in the possible downside of living in an increasingly meritocratic and individualistic society.MethodsSeventeen interviews were conducted among a group of Dutch people with a low socioeconomic position to examine their experiences with stigmatisation, how they coped with it and what they perceived as consequences.ResultsSocial reactions perceived by participants related to being inferior, being physically recognisable as a poor person, and being responsible for their own financial problems. Participants with less experience of living in poverty, a heterogeneous social network and greater sense of financial responsibility seemed to be more aware of stigmas than people with long-term experience of poverty, a homogeneous social network and less sense of financial responsibility. Perceived stigmatisation mainly had emotional consequences. To maintain a certain level of self-respect, participants tried to escape from reality, showed their strengths or confronted other people who expressed negative attitudes towards them.ConclusionDespite the good intentions of policies to enhance self-reliance, responsibility and active citizenship, these policies and related societal beliefs might affect people at the lower end of our socioeconomic hierarchies by making them feel inferior, ashamed and blamed, especially when they cannot meet societal expectations or when they feel treated disrespectfully, unjustly or unequally by social workers or volunteers of charity organisations.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

The silent burden of stigmatisation: a qualitative study among Dutch people with a low socioeconomic position

et al. 2018

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“…Kampen (2014) has shown how the volunteer route, which is supposed to lead to paid employment, often ends in being stuck in an unpaid volunteering position with little prospect of paid employment. As a result, workfare volunteers turn away from the labor market and attach to their volunteer job (Kampen et al 2013). Another study found that welfare recipients themselves often do not believe volunteering constitutes 'real' work experience, and doubt it will lead to paid work (Sawer 2006).…”

Section: Outcomes Of Workfare Volunteeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Is My Volunteer Job Not Real Work?’ The Experiences of Migrant Women with Finding Employment Through Volunteer Work

Slootjes

Kampen

2017

Voluntas

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We examine whether, and under which conditions, volunteering contributes to migrant integration. We identify two main goals of workfare volunteering-empowerment and employability-which build on two distinct images of the ideal citizen: the empowered citizen and the worker-citizen. Life story interviews were held with 46 first-and second-generation migrant women from Turkey, Morocco and Suriname living in the Netherlands. We found that volunteering contributes to employability and empowerment. However, for two mutually reinforcing reasons it eventually disempowers. Firstly, volunteering hardly ever results in paid employment because employers do not recognize volunteering as real work experience. Secondly, the focus on paid employment as ultimate form of integration misrecognizes migrant women as active citizens, which often results in disempowerment. Our findings show that the double policy goals of workfare volunteering require different conditions, and as such striving for both simultaneously often results in failing to achieve the set goals.Résumé Nous avons examiné si, et dans quelles conditions, le bénévolat contribue à l'intégration des migrants. Nous identifions deux principaux objectifs du bénévolat Resumen Examinamos si el voluntariado contribuye a la integración de inmigrantes, y bajo qué condiciones. Identificamos dos metas principales del voluntariado de ''workfare'' (obligación de trabajar para recibir subsidios) -empoderamiento y empleabilidad -que se basan en dos imágenes diferentes del ciudadano ideal: el ciudadano empoderado y el ciudadano trabajador. Se realizaron entrevistas biográficas a 46 mujeres inmigrantes de primera y segunda generación de Turquía, Marruecos y Surinam que viven en los Países Bajos. Encontramos que el voluntariado contribuye a la empleabilidad y al empoderamiento. Sin embargo, por dos motivos que se refuerzan mutuamente les desempodera eventualmente. En primer lugar, el voluntariado raras veces resulta en empleo pagado porque los Voluntas (2017Voluntas ( ) 28:1900Voluntas ( -1921Voluntas ( 1901 123 empleadores no reconocen el voluntariado como una experiencia de trabajo real. En segundo lugar, el foco de atención en el empleo pagado como forma última de integración reconoce erróneamente a las mujeres inmigrantes como ciudadanas activas, lo que da lugar a menudo al desempoderamiento. Nuestros hallazgos muestran que las dos metas de la política de voluntariado de ''workfare'' requieren diferentes condiciones, y como tales, esforzarse por ambas simultáneamente a menudo resulta en no lograr las metas establecidas.

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“…The main way to do this is by doing volunteer work. Volunteering would also make jobless people more 'employable' (Kampen, Elshout, & Tonkens, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A personalised approach in activation. Workfare volunteers’ experiences with activation practitioners

Kampen¹,

Tonkens

2018

European Journal of Social Work

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In activation worksupporting jobless people to perform activities that are supposed to lead them back to paid worka personalised approach is deemed crucial. What a personalised approach entails, however, remains unclear. In this article, we try to further develop the notion of a personalised approach in activation work, by analysing Dutch workfare volunteers' experiences with activation. Our interviews show that a personalised approach appears as a process with three stages. In the first stage, personalised means paying attention to welfare clients' personal histories, particularly their 'violated life story'. In the second stage, personalised means being sensitive to the new reality of them being volunteers. In the third stage, personalised means paying attention to the future, especially to the prospect of paid work. Our findings contribute to the theorisation of a personalised approach in activation work to which time turns out to be a crucial dimension. SAMENVATTING Bij activeringswerkhet ondersteunen van werklozen om activiteiten uit te voeren die hen zouden moeten leiden naar betaald werkwordt een gepersonaliseerde benadering cruciaal geacht. Wat een gepersonaliseerde aanpak inhoudt, blijft echter onduidelijk. In dit artikel proberen we de notie van een gepersonaliseerde benadering in activeringswerk verder te ontwikkelen door de ervaringen van Nederlandse geleide vrijwilligers met activering te analyseren. Onze interviews laten zien dat een gepersonaliseerde benadering te begrijpen is als een proces met drie fasen. Gepersonaliseerd betekent dat in de eerste fase aandacht wordt geschonken aan de persoonlijke geschiedenis van bijstandscliënten, met name aan hun 'geschonden levensverhaal'. In de tweede fase betekent gepersonaliseerd dat activeringswerkers gevoelig zijn voor de nieuwe realiteit van vrijwilliger-zijn. In de derde fase betekent gepersonaliseerd aandacht schenken aan de toekomst, vooral met het oog op betaald werk. Onze bevindingen dragen bij aan theorie over een gepersonaliseerde benadering in activeringswerk, waarin tijd een cruciale dimensie blijkt te zijn.

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The Fragility of Self-Respect: Emotional Labour of Workfare Volunteering

Cited by 30 publications

References 31 publications

The silent burden of stigmatisation: a qualitative study among Dutch people with a low socioeconomic position

The silent burden of stigmatisation: a qualitative study among Dutch people with a low socioeconomic position

‘Is My Volunteer Job Not Real Work?’ The Experiences of Migrant Women with Finding Employment Through Volunteer Work

A personalised approach in activation. Workfare volunteers’ experiences with activation practitioners

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