IL LAVORO ATTIVATO. Il significato dell’occupazione nelle nuove politiche/ACTIVATED WORK: THE MEANING OF EMPLOYMENT IN THE NEW LABOUR POLICIES del lavoro/

Abstract

ALMPs can be used to understand the social meaning of contemporary work, given that the activation approach largely forges labour market policies. ‘Welfare to Work’ and ‘social investment’ represent different versions of activation: the former stresses conditionality and pushes recipients to accept any job, the latter aims at using public funds to invest in ‘human capital’ formation. Despite these differences, the activation approach as a whole conveys several critical aspects: ‘individualization’ as its theoretical base, the coercion and moral labelling of welfare recipients, the welfare recommodification and the central role of financial sustainability in ALMPs; all elements which inevitably affect the very meaning of labour. Just as employment contracts have institutionalised work alienation (Supiot 2020), the service pact between ALMPs and the public deprives benefiting recipients of the control over work (the choice of whether or not to work) as well as of its quality (which job to choose or accept).

Keywords:

Active Labour Market Policies, Activation, Welfare, Workfare, Social Investment.