Unemployment and Government

Erscheinungsjahr 2018
ISBN: 978-0-521-64333-7
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 208 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 457 g

Reihe: Cambridge Studies in Law and Society

While joblessness is by no means a phenomenon specific to this century, the concept of 'unemployment' is. This book follows the invention and transformation of unemployment, understood as a historically specific site of regulation. Taking key aspects of the history of unemployment in Britain as its focus, it argues that the ways in which authorities have defined and sought to manage the jobless have been remarkably varied. In tracing some of the different constructions of unemployment over the last 100 years - as a problem of 'character', as a social 'risk', or today, as a problem of 'skills' - the study highlights the discursive dimension of social and economic policy problems. The book examines such institutionalized practices as the labour bureau, unemployment insurance, and the 'New Deal' as 'technologies' of power. The result is a challenge to our thinking about welfare states.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Walters, William

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Wirtschaftssoziologie, Arbeitssoziologie, Organisationssoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Soziale Ungleichheit, Armut, Rassismus

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. The discovery of unemployment; 2. Inventing unemployment: the birth of the labour exchange; 3. Governing unemployment as a 'risk'; 4. Governing through the long-term unemployed: unemployment between the wars; 5. Unemployment and its spaces; 6. Governing divided societies: the new deal.