Short narratives in analyses of employment efforts

Abstract

The article takes as its point of departure the lack of research on the content and the consequences of activation measures from the point of view of the unemployed. Seeking a qualitative concept of effects the viewpoint of the unemployed and their subjective perspective becomes important. The perspective of the unemployed is found in their narratives about work identity and changes in these narratives during a follow-up period. Their narratives are seen as performative as well as representing the knowledge of the unemployed about content and consequences of activation. The article develops a new approach to this knowledge called short narratives about work identity by combining two separate and recent methodological changes: 1) A movement from grand over big to small narratives in narrative inquiry. 2) A movement from realistic evaluation based on critical realism to relational evaluation based on Actor-Network-Theory. The change in narrative inquiry represents a shift of focus from macro developments over a biographical perspective on the life history of individuals to ad hoc positioning in everyday (including institutional) settings. The change in evaluation represents a shift of focus from structures and mechanisms to relations between participants. The short narratives about work identity are organised in an analytical frame including the frame of reference of the unemployed at the beginning of the follow-up period, the time dimension, the plot in the narratives of the unemployed, contexts referred to and fi nally the connection between ‘treatment’ and consequences for the unemployed. The Short narratives are exemplifi ed with data from a research project about active employment policy and its effects analysing the working life perspective of receivers of cash benefit.