Greg Marston

Workfare as welfare: governing unemployment in the advanced liberal state

Case management has become a key technology in governing the problem of unemployment in western countries such as Britain, the United States and Australia. In this paper we argue that case management represents a radical localization of governance wherein the rights and responsibilities between unemployed people and the state are articulated primarily in the relationship between the case manager and his or her client. This paper reports on a study undertaken in Australia’s Job Network system of employment services. Using a governmental analysis we show how the case management relationship is experienced by case managers and long-term unemployed people in a sample of nonprofit and for-profit Job Network agencies in two states of Australia. The research reveals the micro relations of power and authority that are invoked in the everyday politics of welfare reform. We argue that engaging in policy research at a local level of analysis acts as a necessary balance to more macro welfare state comparisons. Working within a ‘street-level’ approach illuminates how workfare policies and programmes are aligning social relations and identities with new welfare ends and means.

Metaphor, morality and myth: a critical discourse analysis of public housing policy in Queensland

This article presents illustrative findings from case study research investigating the function and effects of competing discourses in the policy change process. The specific field of research is the development and implementation of public housing policy in Queensland, Australia. Critical discourse analysis is used to explore discursive constructions of the policy problem and power relations within the policy community. It is argued that positivist approaches to policy analysis have failed to address the way in which policy language constructs welfare identities, legitimates policy interventions and functions as an important site of ideological struggle over the meaning of human services within the welfare state. These themes are discussed using semi-structured interview data and key policy documents collected during the course of research.

Critical discourse analysis and policy-orientated housing research

Positivism continues to exert a powerful influence on housing research. To a limited extent, this began to change in the mid to late 1990s with a number of researchers in Europe and Australia employing critical and poststructural theories to investigate contemporary housing issues. Critical discourse analysis (CDA), in particular, started to be seen as a tool that could be used to analyse and critique policy debates about urban regeneration, housing policy reform and managerialism. This paper begins by positioning discourse analysis within the field of housing research. The second part of the paper uses an empirical case study of housing policy change in the Australian state of Queensland to illustrate the limitations and possibilities offered by critical discourse analysis. The conclusions drawn from the study indicate that critical discourse analysis is a valuable adjunct to the dominant positivist tradition in housing research. However, for this value to be fully realised, more work needs to be done in a number of areas, including the development of more explicit links between material and discursive practices and a closer integration of CDA with other social research methods.

Welfare-to-work Policies and the Experience of Employed Single Mothers on Income Support in Australia: Where are the Benefits?

Abstract In July 2006, “welfare-to-work” policies were introduced for single parents in Australia. These policies require most single parents with school-aged children to be employed or seeking employment of 15 to 25 hours per week in return for their income support payment. The changes represented a sharp increase in the obligations applying to single parents on income support. This paper is concerned with how the wellbeing of single mothers who are combining income support and paid employment is being influenced by these stepped-up activity requirements. The paper draws on data from semistructured interviews with 21 Brisbane single mothers. The analysis explores participants’ experiences in the new policy environment, utilising the theoretical framework of “relational autonomy”. Relational approaches to autonomy emphasise the importance of relations of dependency and interdependency to the development of autonomy and wellbeing in contrast with more individualistic approaches that privilege independence and self-sufficiency. Findings indicate that in their dealings with the welfare bureaucracy, participants experienced a lack of recognition of their identities as mothers, paid workers, and competent decision makers. These experiences have negative consequences for self-worth, relational autonomy, and ultimately the wellbeing of single parent families.

How Neoliberalism and Ecological Modernization Shaped Environmental Policy in Australia

‘Sustainability’ provides the dominant frame within which environmental policy debate occurs, notwithstanding its divergent meanings. However, how different discourses combine to shape understanding of the environment, the causes of environmental issues, and the responses required, is less clear cut. Drawing primarily on the approach to critical discourse analysis (CDA) developed by Fairclough, this paper explores the way in which neoliberal and ecologically modern discourses combine to shape environmental policy. Environmental scholars have made relatively little use of this approach to CDA to date, despite the significant interest in the discursive aspects of environmental issues, and its wide use in other areas of policy interest. Using the case of environmental policy-making in Victoria, Australia, this paper illustrates how neoliberalism and weak ecological modernization represented sustainability in ways that seriously limited the importance of environmental issues.

Managerialism and public housing reform

This paper discusses market inspired changes to the delivery of public housing in Queensland, Australia during the late 1990s. These policy changes were implemented in an organisational environment dominated by managerialism. The theory and method of critical discourse analysis is used to examine how managerial subject positions were assimilated and/or creatively resisted by different actors within the public housing policy community. These themes are discussed using interview data with a range of policy actors, including policy managers, front-line housing staff and public housing tenants. The analysis suggests that policy actors who openly challenged the emerging policy and organisational direction were marginalised in changing power relations.

Policy, Citizenship and Governance: The Case of Disability and Employment Policy in Australia.

Current discussions regarding the relationship between welfare governance systems and employment promotion in disability policy appeal to a rejuvenated neo-liberal and paternalistic understanding of welfare governance. At the core of this rationality is the argument that people with disabilities not only have rights, but also duties, in relation to the State. In the Australia welfare system, policy tools are deployed to produce a form of self-discipline, whereby the State emphasises personal responsibility via assessment tools, ‘mutual obligation’ policy, and motivational strategies. Drawing on a two-year semi-longitudinal study with 80 people with a disability accessing welfare benefits, we examine how welfare governance subject recipients to strategies to produce productive citizens who are able to contribute to the national goal of maintaining competitiveness in the global economy. Participants’ interviews reveal the intended and unintended effects of this activation policy, including some acceptance of the logic of welfare-to-work and counter-hegemonic resistance to de-valued social identities.

Employment services in an age of e-government

The increasing use of information and communications technologies among government departments and non-government agencies has fundamentally changed the implementation of employment services policy in Australia. The administrative arrangements for governing unemployment and unemployed people are now constituted by a complex contractual interplay between government departments as ‘purchasers’ and a range of small and large private organizations as ‘providers’. Assessing, tracking and monitoring the activities of unemployed people through the various parts of the employment services system has been made possible by developments in information technology and tailored computer programs. Consequently, the discretionary capacity that is traditionally associated with ‘street-level bureaucracy’ has been partly transformed into more prescriptive forms of ‘screen-level bureaucracy’. The knowledge embedded in these new computer-based technologies is considered superior because it is based on ‘objective calculations’, rather than subjective assessments of individual employees. The relationship between the sociopolitical context of unemployment policy and emerging forms of e-government is explored using illustrative findings from a qualitative pilot study undertaken in two Australian sites. The findings suggest that some of the new technologies in the employment services system are welcomed, while other applications are experienced as contradictory to the aims of delivering a personalized and respectful service.

A Punitive Policy: Labour Force Participation of Refugees on Temporary Protection Visas (TPV)

Abstract Labour market participation is a key determinant of a successful refugee resettlement. However, the Australian Governments policy of issuing temporary protection visas (TPV) has a negative impact on labour force participation of refugees on TPVs. In exploring this issue, this article presents findings from a qualitative study into the experience of refugees on TPVs living in Victoria. The major barriers to accessing the labour market identified by the study are: the visa status; lack of proficiency in English; discrimination in relation to the TPV; lack of work experience; and skill recognition in Australia. These barriers need to be overcome through a number of means. The first and most important step in improving access to the labour market for refugees on TPVs is to abolish the policy of temporary protection and the associated restrictions on accessing support services.

Field Placement and the Impact of Financial Stress on Social Work and Human Service Students

ABSTRACT While significant research has been undertaken exploring the pedagogical benefits of undertaking lengthy social work and human services field placements, there has been very little consideration given to the potential financial stress involved for students. This study sought to address this knowledge gap. Research was conducted in 2014 using quantitative and qualitative methods with students and academic and professional staff from six Queensland universities. The findings show a significant relationship between unpaid placements and financial hardship, creating considerable stress for students and at times a compromised placement learning experience. The limited flexibility in requirements from professional bodies and universities for how placements are undertaken has been identified as a key contributor to financial hardship. Addressing the complexities inherent in this issue requires a collaborative effort from multiple stakeholders and should not be regarded as a problem for students to endure and manage.