Do Welfare Conditionalities Always Undermine Autonomy? Understanding Young Unemployed People’S Experiences of Mandatory Activation.

EasyChair Preprint 8162

Abstract

Drawing on the Self-Determination Theory of motivation and a qualitative longitudinal case study of young unemployed people in Denmark, this article explores how young unemployed people make sense of mandatory activation. More specifically, I examine under which circumstances young unemployed people internalise external demands to participate in mandatory job placements. The analysis shows that the context of Danish active labour market policies is often, but not always, conducive to successful internalisation of demands for participation in activation. Successful internalisation depends on whether young people feel that they are listened to and respected, that they are able to establish a trusting relationship with caseworkers and that a rationale for participation is established through dialogue with caseworkers. Whether successful internalisation happens or not has important implications for young people’s experience of activation as meaningful and the way it influences their wellbeing and motivation. These findings provide important guidelines for the design and implementation of welfare conditionalities. They show both the possibility and the significance of implementing interventions in a way that provides citizens with a feeling of agency and self-determination. In the absence of this, citizens may be left with feelings of anger, disempowerment and demotivation, and interventions implemented in this way may therefore have the opposite effect than intended.

Keyphrases: Job placements, Unemployed youth, Welfare conditionality, motivation, self-determination theory

@booklet{EasyChair:8162,
  author    = {Rasmus Schjødt},
  title     = {Do Welfare Conditionalities Always Undermine Autonomy? Understanding Young Unemployed People’S Experiences of Mandatory Activation.},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 8162},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2022}}