Neoliberal technologies of social protection: affects and policy implementation

ABSTRACT

In the context of Polanyi’s ‘double movement’ of market forces and social protection this article explores the work of state agents and processes of subjectivation at the workplace according to the contemporary social policy paradigm of activation. We exemplify the transformation of welfare institutions and policies in the neoliberal period through one of the major ‘disruptive strains’ of self-regulating markets: unemployment, and we problematize the recent marketization of public employment services and their affective treatment of jobseekers as customers. Our approach combines Polanyi’s framework with Foucault’s corresponding theory on state power and governmentality to show how neoliberal governance demands entrepreneurial and affective skills of state officials to support and motivate their ‘customers’. We argue that the subjectivation of these neo-bureaucrats results in a self-government of ‘affective entrepreneurialism’ and in the marketization of social protection. Our theoretical considerations rest on empirical evidence about work practices and frontline interactions of employment agents in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

KEYWORDS:

• Karl Polanyi
• Michel Foucault
• affective governmentality
• neoliberalism
• employment agents

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank our co-researchers Johanna Hofbauer, Barbara Glinsner and Myriam Gaitsch for their enthusiasm during the research process and for their constructive ideas and criticism.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. In order to protect our interview partners’ identity all quotes are anonymized.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Austrian Science Fund under Grant number FN P 25293-G22.

Notes on contributors

Otto Penz

Otto Penz is a senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Vienna. Between 2000 – 2012 he has been appointed Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Calgary. His research interests include political sociology, and sociology of the body and emotions. He is the author of numerous books, like recently with Birgit Sauer: Affektives Kapital, Frankfurt: Campus 2016.

Birgit Sauer is professor of political science at the University of Vienna. Her research fields include democracy and politics of emotions, comparative gender equality policies, right-wing populism and racism. Recent publications include: Mojca Pajnik, Birgit Sauer (eds.): Populism and the Web. Communicative Practices of Parties and Movements in Europe, London: Routledge 2017. https://homepage.univie.ac.at/birgit.sauer/wordpress/