Welfare Conditionality and Blaming the Unemployed
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2020-03-01
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Administration & Society
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SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
Melbourne Authors
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School of Social and Political Sciences
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Journal Article
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McGann, M., Nguyen, P. & Considine, M. (2020). Welfare Conditionality and Blaming the Unemployed. ADMINISTRATION & SOCIETY, 52 (3), pp.466-494. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095399719839362.
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Abstract
Welfare recipients are increasingly subject to various forms of work-related
conditionality that, critics argue, presuppose a “pathological” theory of
unemployment that stigmatizes welfare recipients as de-motivated to work.
Drawing on surveys of Australian frontline employment services staff,
we examine the extent to which caseworkers attribute being on benefits
to recipients’ lack of motivation, and whether this problem figuration of
unemployment is associated with a “harder edged” approach to activation.
We find that it is, although it is diminishing. This reflects how frontline
discretion has become more routinized from the application of more
intensive forms of performance monitoring and compliance auditing.