Rendering the hidden visible

Subjected to “work on the self” in a local labour market measure

Bibliographic Data

ID18988865
AuthorsJon Sunnerfjell (0000-0002-7066-895X, University of Gothenburg, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume11
Issue3
Pages213-227
Publication date2022-11-04
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Organizational Ethnography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2046-6749 • E-ISSN: 2046-6757
PublisherEmerald (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1108/joe-04-2020-0012
OpenAlexW3110986108
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited20

Purpose The purpose of this article is to complement the literature understanding present labour market measures as infused by a so-called neoliberal rationality, fostering self-managerial selves by means of self-inspection. It does so by providing a much-needed illustration of how such “work on the self” is achieved in practice. Design/methodology/approach The analysis draws on ethnographic fieldwork tracing the “active society” at the local level, depicting practices aimed at activating welfare clients in a local labour market measure organised in a rural Swedish municipality. Here, the author was offered to undergo a method aimed at enhancing participants' employability. As a result, data consists of ethnographic as well as auto-ethnographic accounts from this experience. Findings This analysis shows how destabilisation of subjectivity was central to the remoulding of individuals into employable and self-reliant selves. Moreover, by dispersing responsibility to the individual, it is shown how the organisation was able to refrain from accountability, hence reducing the levels of uncertainty and ambiguity that is part and parcel of people-processing welfare organisations. Practical implications The article concludes with the warning that, in the wake of “local worlds of activation”, municipalities may sometimes draw on questionable assumptions of the human mind and behaviour, as well as the vulnerability of individuals' self-understanding, as a way of managing the “active society” at the local level. Originality/value The literature on activation lacks ethnographic accounts depicting concrete practices of turning the socially excluded into active and employable selves. Here, this article offers an illustrating example of such practices in action

Ambiguity · Covert · Epistemology · Ethnography · Originality · Political science · Public relations · Qualitative research · Rationality · Social science · Sociology · Subjectification · Subjectivity · Welfare · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Psychology · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Social Psychology · Social Work Education and Practice

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