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Ojämlikhetsregimer i aktivering : Görande av klass, etnicitet och kön genom subventionerade anställningar

Parsland, Ellen LU (2025) In Lund dissertations in social work 71.
Abstract
Inequality, in terms of how resources are distributed between different categories of people is a pervasive phenomenon in society. The Swedish labour market is no exception, exhibiting a significant degree of classed, ethnified and gendered inequality in terms of access to control and power over production conditions. This thesis aims to contribute knowledge about how and why inequality regimes are reproduced and counteracted by analysing the doing of class, ethnicity and gender in processes, activities and meaning making within six municipal labour market programmes using subsidised employment as its main intervention. The empirical material consists of focus groups- and individual interviews with 45 participants, 41 social workers and 4... (More)
Inequality, in terms of how resources are distributed between different categories of people is a pervasive phenomenon in society. The Swedish labour market is no exception, exhibiting a significant degree of classed, ethnified and gendered inequality in terms of access to control and power over production conditions. This thesis aims to contribute knowledge about how and why inequality regimes are reproduced and counteracted by analysing the doing of class, ethnicity and gender in processes, activities and meaning making within six municipal labour market programmes using subsidised employment as its main intervention. The empirical material consists of focus groups- and individual interviews with 45 participants, 41 social workers and 4 managers in six different labour market programmes focused on subsidised employment as an activation intervention. The result is presented in four articles that highlight the doing of class, ethnicity and gender. Article I focuses on the doing of gender and ethnicity in relation to goals of gender equality and activation. Article II highlights how ethnic categorisations affect activation within a municipal labour market programme, which in turn reproduces inequality, especially for people categorised as refugees within the programme. Article III deals with participants' collective identity and community constructions in relation to how they are categorised and activated by social workers. Article IV analyses how class is done in six municipal labour market programmes and how ethnicity and gender intersect in the doing of class. In the final discussion, it is discussed how doing class, ethnicity and gender is intertwined with how inequality regimes were reproduced. It is also discussed why inequality regimes were reproduced based on the respondents' meaning-making related to the norm of paid work and the unequal conditions in the labour market. The classed, ethnicised and gendered categorisations of participants by social workers and managers are organised, influenced and reproduced in relation to each other in order to enable participants to enter the labour market quickly after the intervention was completed. Participants attributed the intervention as meaningful. Yet, the categorisations can also be interpreted as to service the municipalities' needs for labour in the lower segments of the labour market. Subsidised employment can therefore be understood to reproduce a municipal reserve army, rather than enabling a stable labour market establishment for people who have a marginal position in the labour market. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Ojämlikhet, i termer av hur resurser fördelas mellan olika kategorier av människor, är ett genomgripande samhällsfenomen. Den svenska arbetsmarknaden är inget undantag och uppvisar en betydande grad av klassad, etnifierad och könad ojämlikhet när det gäller tillgång till kontroll och makt över produktionsförhållanden. Denna avhandling syftar till att bidra med kunskap om hur och varför ojämlikhetsregimer reproduceras och motverkas genom att analysera hur klass, etnicitet och kön påverkar processer, aktiviteter och meningsskapande inom sex kommunala arbetsmarknadsprogram med subventionerade anställningar som huvudsaklig insats.

Det empiriska materialet består av fokusgrupps- och individuella intervjuer med 45 deltagare, 41... (More)
Ojämlikhet, i termer av hur resurser fördelas mellan olika kategorier av människor, är ett genomgripande samhällsfenomen. Den svenska arbetsmarknaden är inget undantag och uppvisar en betydande grad av klassad, etnifierad och könad ojämlikhet när det gäller tillgång till kontroll och makt över produktionsförhållanden. Denna avhandling syftar till att bidra med kunskap om hur och varför ojämlikhetsregimer reproduceras och motverkas genom att analysera hur klass, etnicitet och kön påverkar processer, aktiviteter och meningsskapande inom sex kommunala arbetsmarknadsprogram med subventionerade anställningar som huvudsaklig insats.

Det empiriska materialet består av fokusgrupps- och individuella intervjuer med 45 deltagare, 41 socialarbetare och 4 chefer i sex olika arbetsmarknadsprogram med fokus på subventionerade anställningar som aktiveringsinsats. Resultatet presenteras i fyra artiklar som belyser görande av klass, etnicitet och kön. Artikel I fokuserar på hur kön och etnicitet görs i relation till mål om jämställdhet och aktivering. Artikel II belyser hur etnifierade kategoriseringar påverkar aktivering inom ett kommunalt arbetsmarknadsprogram, vilket i sin tur reproducerar ojämlikhet, särskilt för personer som kategoriseras som flyktingar inom programmet. Artikel III handlar om deltagarnas kollektiva identitet och gemenskapskonstruktioner i relation till hur de kategoriseras och aktiveras av socialarbetare. I artikel IV analyseras hur klass görs i sex kommunala arbetsmarknadsprogram och hur etnicitet och kön samverkar i görandet av klass.

I den avslutande diskussionen diskuteras hur klass, etnicitet och kön är sammanflätat med hur ojämlikhetsregimer reproducerades. Det diskuteras också varför ojämlikhetsregimer reproducerades utifrån respondenternas meningsskapande i relation till normen för betalt arbete och de ojämlika villkoren på arbetsmarknaden. Socialsekreterarnas och chefernas klassade, etnifierade och könade kategoriseringar av deltagarna organiseras, påverkas och reproduceras i relation till varandra för att deltagarna ska kunna komma in på arbetsmarknaden snabbt efter avslutad insats. Deltagarna tillskrev insatsen som meningsfull. Men kategoriseringarna kan också tolkas som att de tillgodoser kommunernas behov av arbetskraft i de lägre segmenten på arbetsmarknaden. Subventionerade anställningar kan därför tolkas som att de reproducerar en kommunal reservarmé, snarare än att de möjliggör en stabil arbetsmarknadsetablering för personer som har en marginell position på arbetsmarknaden. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
supervisor
opponent
  • Docent Mulinari, Paula, Malmö University
organization
alternative title
Inequality regimes in activation : Doing class, ethnicity and gender through subsidised employment
publishing date
type
Thesis
publication status
published
subject
keywords
aktivering, ojämlikhet, subventionerade anställningar, klass, etnicitet, kön, activation, inequality, subsidized employment, class, ethnicity, gender
in
Lund dissertations in social work
volume
71
edition
1
pages
118 pages
publisher
Media-Tryck, Lund University, Sweden
defense location
Sh128, Allhelgona kyrkogata 8 Lund
defense date
2024-02-14 10:15:00
ISSN
1650-3872
1650-3872
ISBN
978-91-89604-78-0
978-91-89604-78-0
project
Kön, klass och etnicitet i kommunala arbetsmarknadsprogram
language
Swedish
LU publication?
yes
id
a6ddc93e-8b6f-4e68-ade5-3de8609b0fbe
date added to LUP
2025-01-13 12:09:54
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:23:39
@phdthesis{a6ddc93e-8b6f-4e68-ade5-3de8609b0fbe,
  abstract     = {{Inequality, in terms of how resources are distributed between different categories of people is a pervasive phenomenon in society. The Swedish labour market is no exception, exhibiting a significant degree of classed, ethnified and gendered inequality in terms of access to control and power over production conditions. This thesis aims to contribute knowledge about how and why inequality regimes are reproduced and counteracted by analysing the doing of class, ethnicity and gender in processes, activities and meaning making within six municipal labour market programmes using subsidised employment as its main intervention. The empirical material consists of focus groups- and individual interviews with 45 participants, 41 social workers and 4 managers in six different labour market programmes focused on subsidised employment as an activation intervention. The result is presented in four articles that highlight the doing of class, ethnicity and gender. Article I focuses on the doing of gender and ethnicity in relation to goals of gender equality and activation. Article II highlights how ethnic categorisations affect activation within a municipal labour market programme, which in turn reproduces inequality, especially for people categorised as refugees within the programme. Article III deals with participants' collective identity and community constructions in relation to how they are categorised and activated by social workers. Article IV analyses how class is done in six municipal labour market programmes and how ethnicity and gender intersect in the doing of class. In the final discussion, it is discussed how doing class, ethnicity and gender is intertwined with how inequality regimes were reproduced. It is also discussed why inequality regimes were reproduced based on the respondents' meaning-making related to the norm of paid work and the unequal conditions in the labour market. The classed, ethnicised and gendered categorisations of participants by social workers and managers are organised, influenced and reproduced in relation to each other in order to enable participants to enter the labour market quickly after the intervention was completed. Participants attributed the intervention as meaningful. Yet, the categorisations can also be interpreted as to service the municipalities' needs for labour in the lower segments of the labour market. Subsidised employment can therefore be understood to reproduce a municipal reserve army, rather than enabling a stable labour market establishment for people who have a marginal position in the labour market.}},
  author       = {{Parsland, Ellen}},
  isbn         = {{978-91-89604-78-0}},
  issn         = {{1650-3872}},
  keywords     = {{aktivering; ojämlikhet; subventionerade anställningar; klass; etnicitet; kön; activation; inequality; subsidized employment; class; ethnicity; gender}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  publisher    = {{Media-Tryck, Lund University, Sweden}},
  school       = {{Lund University}},
  series       = {{Lund dissertations in social work}},
  title        = {{Ojämlikhetsregimer i aktivering : Görande av klass, etnicitet och kön genom subventionerade anställningar}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/205626292/Ellen_Parsland_-_WEBB.pdf}},
  volume       = {{71}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}