Purpose

The purpose of this article is to complement the literature understanding present labour market measures as infused by a so-called neoliberal rationality, fostering self-managerial selves by means of self-inspection. It does so by providing a much-needed illustration of how such “work on the self” is achieved in practice.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis draws on ethnographic fieldwork tracing the “active society” at the local level, depicting practices aimed at activating welfare clients in a local labour market measure organised in a rural Swedish municipality. Here, the author was offered to undergo a method aimed at enhancing participants' employability. As a result, data consists of ethnographic as well as auto-ethnographic accounts from this experience.

Findings

This analysis shows how destabilisation of subjectivity was central to the remoulding of individuals into employable and self-reliant selves. Moreover, by dispersing responsibility to the individual, it is shown how the organisation was able to refrain from accountability, hence reducing the levels of uncertainty and ambiguity that is part and parcel of people-processing welfare organisations.

Practical implications

The article concludes with the warning that, in the wake of “local worlds of activation”, municipalities may sometimes draw on questionable assumptions of the human mind and behaviour, as well as the vulnerability of individuals' self-understanding, as a way of managing the “active society” at the local level.

Originality/value

The literature on activation lacks ethnographic accounts depicting concrete practices of turning the socially excluded into active and employable selves. Here, this article offers an illustrating example of such practices in action.

中文翻译：

---

使隐藏可见：在当地劳动力市场措施中接受“自我工作”

目的

本文的目的是补充文献对当前劳动力市场措施的理解，即注入了所谓的新自由主义理性，通过自我检查来培养自我管理的自我。它通过提供急需的说明来说明如何在实践中实现这种“对自我的工作”来做到这一点。

设计/方法/方法

该分析借鉴了在地方一级追踪“活跃社会”的民族志田野调查，描绘了旨在在瑞典农村城市组织的当地劳动力市场措施中激活福利客户的实践。在这里，作者被提议接受一种旨在提高参与者就业能力的方法。因此，数据包括来自这种经验的民族志和自动民族志账户。

发现

这一分析表明，主体性的不稳定是如何将个人重塑为可就业和自力更生的自我的核心。此外，通过将责任分散到个人身上，可以看出组织如何能够避免问责制，从而降低了作为人员处理福利组织不可或缺的一部分的不确定性和模糊性。

实际影响

文章最后警告说，在“激活的地方世界”之后，市政当局有时可能会利用对人类思想和行为的可疑假设以及个人自我理解的脆弱性，作为一种管理方式地方一级的“活跃社会”。

原创性/价值

关于激活的文献缺乏描述将社会排斥者转变为积极和可就业的自我的具体实践的民族志描述。在这里，本文提供了此类实践的示例。