Mc Gann, Michael (2021) 'Double activation': Workfare meets marketisation. Administration, 69 (2). pp. 19-42. ISSN 2449-9471

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Abstract

Since the financial crisis, Ireland’s welfare state has been reorientated around a regulatory, ‘work-first’ activation model. Claimants now face penalty rates for non-compliance with activation requirements that have been significantly extended since 2009. Alongside these formal policy reforms, the organisations delivering Public Employment Services, and the modes by which they are commissioned, have also been reconfigured through a series of New Public Management style governance reforms, including, most notably, the creation of a quasi-market for employment services (JobPath) in 2015. This article addresses the intersection between activation and quasi-marketisation, positioning the latter as a form of ‘double activation’ that reshapes not only how but also what policies are enacted at the street level. It unpacks their shared logics and mutual commitment to governing agents at a distance through a behavioural public policy orientation, and reflects on the extent to which marketisation is capable of producing lower-cost but more responsive employment services.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2021 Michael McGann, published by Sciendo This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ie/. Cite as: McGann, Michael. "‘Double activation’: Workfare meets marketisation" Administration, vol.69, no.2, 2021, pp.19-42. https://doi.org/10.2478/admin-2021-0012
Keywords:	Activation; double activation; commodification; JobPath; marketisation; public employment services; quasi-markets; welfare-to-work;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Institutes > Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute, MUSSI Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology
Item ID:	14837
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.2478/admin-2021-0012
Depositing User:	Michael McGann
Date Deposited:	21 Sep 2021 14:42
Journal or Publication Title:	Administration
Publisher:	Sciendo
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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