VOLONTARIATO INVOLONTARIO. Il lavoro di utilità sociale nei sistemi di workfare/Involuntary volunteering. The community works in Workfare systems

Abstract

Abstract

The paper aims to provide a critical review of a phenomenon that has influenced the transformation of minimum income schemes in several European countries in recent years: the use of unpaid and community-based activities within activation programmes for beneficiaries of workfare measures.
I will argue that these programmes can be seen as a specific case of the incorporation of volunteering into welfare policy and as an emblematic shift in the activation paradigm. The paper will discuss the risks that the generalisation of these programmes may pose to the codification of social work, the representation of the community and the political logic of welfare.

Keywords:
Workfare; Volunteering; Informalization; Activation; Poverty.