What Role for Activation in Eco-Social Policy?

Fiona Dukelow

doi:10.1017/s1474746421000889

Abstract

This article aims to bring labour market activation policy into the orbit of eco-social policy, which we can understand as sustainable welfare without growth. Activation is extensively addressed from economic and social policy perspectives; however, environmental sustainability concerns are absent. Typically, each domain, activation and sustainability, is seen as mutually exclusive. Growing debate about sustainable welfare without growth features much discussion about the effects of productivism and about re-orienting and re-valuing work and how we use our time; however, such discussion tends to leave activation and unemployment untouched. One could ask whether there is any role for activation in eco-social policy: why focus on employment and employability, or even push people into work, if postgrowth requires a downsizing of paid employment and working time in everyone’s lives? The purpose of this article is to explore this question and to consider how activation could be re-valued and re-thought as a policy tool for eco-social policy.

Highlights

This article aims to bring labour market activation policy into the orbit of eco-social policy, which we can understand as sustainable welfare without growth (Koch, 2018)
Sustainable welfare without growth, whether we describe this as postgrowth or degrowth, is understood ‘as an equitable and democratic transition to a smaller economy with less production and less consumption’ (Martínez-Alier et al, 2010: 1741)
The article follows this train of thinking by switching from discussion of activation to looking at work and proposals for work in postgrowth thinking. This second part traverses some of the heterogeneous terrain and discussions of good or sustainable discussion of work in postgrowth thinking. It thinks through what role, if any, activation would have in these alternative ways of looking at work and progressing sustainable welfare and considers the connections between activation as job creation and a postgrowth job guarantee

Summary

Fiona Dukelow

This article aims to bring labour market activation policy into the orbit of eco-social policy, which we can understand as sustainable welfare without growth. Activation is extensively addressed from economic and social policy perspectives; environmental sustainability concerns are absent. Growing debate about sustainable welfare without growth features much discussion about the effects of productivism and about re-orienting and re-valuing work and how we use our time; such discussion tends to leave activation and unemployment untouched. One could ask whether there is any role for activation in eco-social policy: why focus on employment and employability, or even push people into work, if postgrowth requires a downsizing of paid employment and working time in everyone’s lives? The purpose of this article is to explore this question and to consider how activation could be re-valued and re-thought as a policy tool for eco-social policy

Introduction

The evolution of activation and the demise of job creation

Conclusion