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Activating the ‘ideal jobseeker’ : Experiences of individuals with mental health conditions on the UK Work Programme
Scholz, Frederike Ingold, Joanne
Scholz, Frederike
Ingold, Joanne
Author
Abstract
Active labour market programmes (ALMPs) are critical preparation mechanisms to assist people to enter the workplace. This article analyses qualitative data from a hard-to-access group of individuals with mental health conditions (MHCs) participating in a large-scale UK ALMP, the Work Programme (WP). Using the lens of the ‘extended social model of disability’ and the concept of the ‘ideal worker’, the article demonstrates that ableist norms of the ‘ideal jobseeker’ were embedded within the Programme’s design, prioritising individuals with certain abilities and behaviour over others. Second, the article extends Acker’s framework of inequality regimes to demonstrate that formal and informal inequality practices within the Programme maintained, rather than challenged, disability inequality. This was visible along four dimensions: (1) ALMPs as organising processes producing disability inequality; (2) the visibility of disability inequality; (3) the legitimacy of disability inequality; and (4) control and compliance derived from hierarchical social relations within ALMP design and implementation, involving either stabilising or destabilising effects on disabled jobseekers. The theoretical and practical contributions of this article demonstrate that the design of the WP as an employment preparation mechanism pushed disabled jobseekers further away from paid employment, rather than towards workplace inclusion.
Keywords
active labour market programmes (ALMPs), disability, ideal jobseeker, inequality regime, mental health conditions (MHCs)
Date
2021
Type
Journal article
Journal
Book
Volume
74
Issue
10
Page Range
1604-1627
Article Number
ACU Department
Peter Faber Business School
Faculty of Law and Business
Faculty of Law and Business
Collections
Relation URI
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
File Access
Controlled
Open
Open
Notes
© The Author(s) 2020
This research was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council via a Leeds Social Science Institute Postgraduate Research Placement Grant.
This research was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council via a Leeds Social Science Institute Postgraduate Research Placement Grant.