The illusion of an intermediate labor market striving for inclusion of all the social clients

The ongoing self-management amongst vulnerable social clients in order to transform themselves from their current situations.

Abstract

The article shows that during the last 30 year a new, ongoing, conceptual apparatus has been made in that conceives social security claimants as someone, who is straight on their way to become included in the labor market. The article is based on document analysis from officially document about the labor market, and different articles and debates about developments at the labor marked the last 30 years. The theoretical approach applies basis concepts from Michel Foucault and Niklas Luhmann and describes the historical construction of this conceptual apparatus. From the mid- 80 ́s we have seen a trend towards describing the group of social clients as a special segment of the population. Alongside this way of approaching the clients, a new norm was set in motion from around 1990 regarding an active life in the labor market, in attempt to include all clients. At first it was not possible to adapt this new norm to the entire group. Throughout the 90s, when the perception of the intermediate labor market had seen the light and the concept of working capacity was born, it gave the opportunity to include the whole group, in accordance with this new norm. At the end of the 1990s, a so-called work capacity method was devised, in order to bring in criteria pertaining to the claimant’s living conditions, and influenced their connection to the labor market. This new method gave birth to an understanding that the clients would have to abstract from their own current situation, and look at their inherent potential to become a labor instead. With the spread and intensification of the new norm against the group of social clients, employment as a new central welfare state ideal was established. The municipal and state institutions in the area has gradually adapted to this development, as employment is established as an independent resort area, while voluntary organizations are transformed to private organizations. The article claims that the reason that this new norm is installed as indispensable even for the most vulnerable social clients is not about the fact that their labor will make a difference for the workforce. This is about cementing the focus of the modern welfare state to handle the optimization of the individual’s ability to work.