TY - JOUR

T1 - Client contribution in negotiations on employability – categories revised?

A1 - Eskelien,L.

A1 - Olesen,Søren Peter

A1 - Caswell,D.

AU - Eskelien,L.

AU - Olesen,Søren Peter

AU - Caswell,D.

PB - Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

PY - 2010

Y1 - 2010

N2 - In this article, we explore how the institutional category<br/>‘unemployed’ is specified in everyday practice when implementing<br/>an active employment policy. We illustrate the<br/>process of categorisation as an aspect of the in situ positioning<br/>and self-representation of the client by examining one social<br/>worker–client talk: how the category unemployed is shaped<br/>and ‘translated’ when the client negotiates her situation with<br/>the social worker. Two types of category revisions are identified.<br/>First, the employability of the client, rather than her<br/>unemployment situation, is the issue under negotiation.<br/>Second, the client introduces new categories that are compatible<br/>with the demands of the employment system. She contributes<br/>by drawing on discursive resources related to the<br/>category of ‘active job seeker’ but does this with an own<br/>agenda of looking for a suitable job. The analysis elucidates<br/>the client’s contribution to institutional practice and discusses<br/>constitutive and constituted elements of categorisation.

AB - In this article, we explore how the institutional category<br/>‘unemployed’ is specified in everyday practice when implementing<br/>an active employment policy. We illustrate the<br/>process of categorisation as an aspect of the in situ positioning<br/>and self-representation of the client by examining one social<br/>worker–client talk: how the category unemployed is shaped<br/>and ‘translated’ when the client negotiates her situation with<br/>the social worker. Two types of category revisions are identified.<br/>First, the employability of the client, rather than her<br/>unemployment situation, is the issue under negotiation.<br/>Second, the client introduces new categories that are compatible<br/>with the demands of the employment system. She contributes<br/>by drawing on discursive resources related to the<br/>category of ‘active job seeker’ but does this with an own<br/>agenda of looking for a suitable job. The analysis elucidates<br/>the client’s contribution to institutional practice and discusses<br/>constitutive and constituted elements of categorisation.

KW - active employment policy, categorisation, negotiation, social work, unemployed

U2 - 10.1111/j.1468-2397.2009.00717.x

DO - 10.1111/j.1468-2397.2009.00717.x

JO - International Journal of Social Welfare

JF - International Journal of Social Welfare

SN - 1369-6866

IS - 3

VL - 19

SP - 330

EP - 338

ER -