How do activation policies affect social citizenship? The issue of autonomy
How do activation policies affect social citizenship? The issue of autonomy
While employment regulation is clearly lagging behind the development of insecure employment practices, as Silke Bothfeld and Sigrid Betzelt's chapter indicates, social protection policy is shoring up their expansion. In reconsidering the decommodifying effects of social policy in the contemporary work-welfare nexus, the authors’ use of the concept of ‘autonomy’ provides an alternative means to establish the impact of changes in a state-citizen relations located in the rise of ‘activation’ policies, and the primacy now accorded to full labour market participation. In a cross-national European comparison, their focus is the nature and form of activation policies and how these affect individual autonomy, measured by quality, status differentiation and user participation in the process of employment-related social security reform. In their overview of labour market deregulation, changes to active labour market policies and unemployment benefit schemes, the analysis demonstrates a general decline in both the quality and security afforded by employment; a trend that is accelerated by both the policy push for maximum participation and the demise of the ‘core worker’ as a referent of standards.
Keywords: Activation policies, Social citizenship, Autonomy, Employment regulation, Employment practices, State-citizen relations, Europe, User participation, Security
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