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Re‐learning to labour? ‘Activation Works’ and new politics of social assistance in the case of Slovak Roma
Author(s) -
Grill Jan
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of the royal anthropological institute
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.62
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1467-9655
pISSN - 1359-0987
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9655.12802
Subject(s) - humanities , ideology , political science , sociology , politics , context (archaeology) , ethnology , philosophy , geography , law , archaeology
Based on fieldwork among Roma/Gypsy groups in Slovakia, this essay explores the concept of ‘activation (to) work’ along the shifting lines of economic precariousness and the new politics of social assistance targeting formally unemployed subjects in the context of a neoliberalizing state. Focusing on how ideologies and policies of activation operate in everyday practices, the essay dissects lived experiences and the forms of sociability emerging in these spaces constituted by the centrifugal forces of the state. Particular attention is paid to the contested meanings, politics of waiting, and acts of compassion elicited by subjects’ labour and work simulations.