Digitalisation and the welfare state – how First Nations people experienced digitalised social security under the Cashless Debit Card
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12642935 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Shelley Bielefeld (0000-0003-0094-3511, Griffith Law School, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland, Australia Canberra Law School, University of Canberra, Bruce, ACT, Australia, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 599-617 |
| Publication date | 2024-02-29 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1440-7833 • E-ISSN: 1741-2978 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/14407833241232636 |
| OpenAlex | W4392354168 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 32 |
Digitalisation of the welfare state has intensified in recent years, with burdens unevenly distributed between technology advocates and those receiving government income support. Putting in place processes where people needing social security must meet mandatory requirements of digital literacy and divert a significant amount of their small incomes to pay for expensive technologies such as computers, smartphones, and data plans comes at a cost. This article examines lived experiences of First Nations Cashless Debit Card (CDC) holders who experienced digitalisation of their social security payments. Under the CDC, a range of restrictions were placed on purchases, spending social security income came with stigma, technology troubles meant that income was less secure, and Indigenous peoples’ autonomy was undermined. Although the CDC has since been abolished, these issues remain relevant as a new cashless social security card, the SmartCard, has been introduced in 2023
Autonomy · Business · Computer security · Credit card · Debit card · Economic growth · Economics · Government (linguistics · Payment · Political science · Politics · Smart card · Social security · Social Welfare · State (computer science · Stigma (botany · Welfare · Welfare state · Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Taxation and Compliance Studies · Finance
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Thematic Analysis
Reinventing the Welfare State
Data and rights in the digital welfare state
Disciplining the Poor
Cashless welfare transfers and Australia’s First Nations
Income management and Indigenous peoples
Financialization and Welfare Surveillance
Automated decision-making, digital inclusion and intersectional disabilities
Cashless Welfare Transfers for ‘Vulnerable’ Welfare Recipients
Administrative burden and the Cashless Debit Card
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The Northern Territory Emergency Response — Has It Really Improved the Lives of Aboriginal Women and Children
Shame on Us
Brief History of Neoliberalism
The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State
Responsibility for justice
SuperVision
Automating Inequality
Imagining the Good Indigenous Citizen
Decolonising Methodologies Research and Indigenous Peoples
Digital Social Policy
| Citations per year | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |