Abstract This article provides a critical commentary on Irish activation policy. It is framed with reference to the point made in Pathways to Work 2016–2020 that a key purpose of activation is ‘to help ensure a supply of labour at competitive rates’. It looks at how a tougher work-first activation regime can be situated within the wider landscape of reform and retrenchment in the social protection system following the 2008 financial crisis. Broadly utilising Pierson’s concepts of programmatic and systemic retrenchment, it situates the roll-out of activation within shifts toward greater reliance on means-tested benefits for the unemployed, and toward work first, with varying degrees of compulsion, for other working-age adults in the social protection system. Suggesting that this results in a hierarchy of ‘welfare sacrifice’ for the sake of the competitiveness of the Irish economy, it also looks briefly at how some of these ‘sacrifices’ are experienced by different groups both in and out of the labour market. The article concludes by noting that the Covid-19 pandemic has temporarily transformed state–market relations such as these; however, whether this offers the opportunity to forge a more supportive turn in activation policy post-pandemic remains an open question.

中文翻译：

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牺牲公民？爱尔兰政治经济的激活和紧缩

摘要 本文对爱尔兰的激活政策进行了批判性评论。它参考了《2016-2020 年工作路径》中提出的观点，即激活的关键目的是“帮助确保以具有竞争力的价格供应劳动力”。它着眼于在 2008 年金融危机之后，如何在更广泛的社会保障体系改革和紧缩格局中建立更严格的工作优先激活机制。广泛利用皮尔森的计划性和系统性裁员概念，它将激活的推出置于转向更多地依赖经经济状况调查的失业者福利的转变中，以及在不同程度的强迫下，为其他工作年龄的成年人首先工作社会保障体系。建议为了爱尔兰经济的竞争力，这导致了“福利牺牲”的等级制度，它还简要介绍了劳动力市场内外的不同群体如何经历这些“牺牲”。文章最后指出，Covid-19 大流行暂时改变了诸如此类的国家与市场关系；然而，这是否提供了在大流行后激活政策方面形成更支持性转变的机会仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。