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Sociology contra government? The contest for the meaning of unemployment in UK policy debates

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  • Matthew Cole

    (Cardiff University, colem5@cardiff.ac.uk)

Abstract

The 1980s witnessed an intense political and ideological struggle over unemployment in Britain, which often involved sociologists defending the unemployed against real or perceived governmental attacks on their work ethic. Notwithstanding valid criticisms of the practical efficacy of supply-side unemployment policies, this rebuttal of governmental`victim-blaming'tactics restricted a deeper critique of the meaning and purpose of work, and perversely helped to reproduce a moral discourse of work in symbiosis with the Thatcher government. Subsequent critiques of New Labour policies have frequently perpetuated this moral discourse, through explicitly or tacitly positing (paid) `work' as the preferred or only `solution' to the `problem' of unemployment.An alternative solution could be a guaranteed income policy. This could both challenge the moral discourse of work and direct policy critique away from areas that teleologically inscribe preferred lifestyles such as that of paid worker.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew Cole, 2008. "Sociology contra government? The contest for the meaning of unemployment in UK policy debates," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 22(1), pages 27-43, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:22:y:2008:i:1:p:27-43
    DOI: 10.1177/0950017007087415
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jahoda,Marie, 1982. "Employment and Unemployment," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521285865, October.
    2. Helen Russell, 1999. "Friends in Low Places: Gender, Unemployment and Sociability," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 13(2), pages 205-224, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Amrita Chhachhi & Ana Cecilia Dinerstein, 2014. "The Dream of Dignified Work: On Good and Bad Utopias," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 45(5), pages 1037-1058, September.

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