A self- governing reserve army of labour? The commodification of the young unemployed through welfare policy, practice and discourse
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21789413 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Louise Prendergast (0000-0003-2516-1479, Bangor University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 262-281 |
| Publication date | 2020-11-27 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | People Place and Policy Online (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1753-8041 • E-ISSN: 1753-8041 |
| Publisher | Sheffield Hallam University (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.3351/ppp.2020.4244896377 |
| OpenAlex | W3106549112 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 40 |
This article explores the experiences and discourses of precarious work and welfare from the perspectives of young people who are unemployed or in precarious employment, and frontline staff broadly involved in welfare practices. The narratives of unemployed young people and frontline workers, within an area of Wales, offer a snapshot of work and welfare from 2015; with young people a 'litmus paper' of the landscape and frontline workers as street-level bureaucrats The m ain findings discussed here are that any work and work schemes are regarded as an appropriate solution for the 'problem' of unemployment by both young people and frontline workers, who valorise work and denigrate welfare. Young people compete for, and frontline workers encourage, unpaid and paid labour market participation, whether stable employment is forthcoming or not, and focus on individualising effort and hard work. This is not new, discipline by welfare stigma and the elevation of work has guided workers both now and historically, and a deliberate commodification of labour with work schemes and 'work first' approaches, alongside welfare sanctions ensure individuals labour for profit Draw ing on the concepts of 'governmentality ' (Foucault, 1994a) this article argues that the problematizing of the unemployed, and centrality of work and the work ethic, has contributed to young people, particularly those without financial resources, to become a resilient self-governing and effortful reserve army of labour, shaped through discursive practices
Commodification · Economic growth · Economics · Economy · Governmentality · Political science · Politics · Precarious work · Sociology · Unemployment · Welfare · Welfare reform · Workfare · Employment and Welfare Studies · Higher Education and Employability · Law · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics
Actively seeking work?
Poverty and insecurity
Revolting Subjects
Stigma
Discourse and social change
The Welfare State in Britain since 1945
The Precariat. The New Dangerous Class
Qualitative Research Interviewing
On ‘Activation Workers’ Perceptions’
Living with and responding to the 'scrounger' narrative in the UK
Welfare-to-Work Reform, Power and Inequality
Workfare – a Blast from the Past? Contemporary Work Conditionality for the Unemployed in Historical Perspective
Fair Conditions and Fair Consequences? Exploring New Labour, Welfare Contractualism and Social Attitudes
Positive affect as coercive strategy
Disabled people, the reserve army of labour and welfare reform
A commentary on resistance to the UK’s Work Experience programme
A New Leviathan
Telling stories of 21st century welfare
Benefits broods’
A hand up or a slap down? Criminalising benefit claimants in Britain via strategies of surveillance, sanctions and deterrence
Workfare as welfare
Reading active labour market policy politically
Unemployment, wellbeing and the power of the work ethic
Subverting Social Policy on the Front Line
The Myth of “Broken Britain”
Discipline and punishment
The Concept of Employability
Young people and UK labour market policy
The Ethical Deficit of the United Kingdom's Proposed Universal Credit
Using thematic analysis in psychology
A Genealogy of Dependency
Personalised conditionality
New Labour', welfare reform and the reserve army of labour
Education to Work Transitions
Undoing the Demos
Emotional Compliance and Emotion as Resistance
Welfare reform, precarity and the re-commodification of labour
Re-Thinking Unemployment
The stigma of claiming benefits
The Demand-Side of Active Labour Market Policies
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |