The Paradox of Self-Organisation among Disadvantaged People

362 Pages·2003·2.59 MB·English

The Paradox of Self-Organisation
among Disadvantaged People:
A Study of Marginal Citizenship
Rune Halvorsen
Dr.polit. avhandling i sosiologi 2002
Institutt for sosiologi og statsvitenskap
Fakultet for samfunnsvitenskap og teknologiledelse
Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, NTNU
Trondheim
ISBN 82-471-5083-2
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Contents
Acknowledgements..........................................................................................................7
Part I Introduction
1 The problem of marginal citizenship...........................................................................11
Unexpected successes vis-à-vis the greater society...................................................12
Self-organisation among the disadvantaged as a theoretical challenge.....................17
Research objectives....................................................................................................20
2 Welfare-policy contexts of the attempts at self-organisation......................................23
Steering problems and problems of democracy.........................................................23
Citizenship, inclusion and exclusion.........................................................................26
Activation from above, participation from below.....................................................32
Multiculturalism.........................................................................................................36
Norway as laboratory.................................................................................................39
Concluding remarks...................................................................................................47
3 Theoretical perspectives on mobilisation and marginality..........................................49
Perspectives on marginality as poverty.....................................................................50
Perspectives on marginality as deviance...................................................................57
Perspectives on marginality as disempowerment......................................................63
Perspectives on social mobilisation: conflict groups.................................................67
Perspectives on social mobilisation: resources, opportunities, frames......................71
Perspectives on social mobilisation: conversion of capital.......................................73
Summary and concluding remarks............................................................................76
4 Design and methods in the data collection..................................................................83
Case-oriented approach..............................................................................................83
Bound generalisations in open systems.....................................................................88
Category comparison.................................................................................................93
Generative models.....................................................................................................96
Selection of cases.......................................................................................................98
Core issues in the data collection.............................................................................102
The data collection...................................................................................................103
Further experiences from interviews and access.....................................................108
Presentation of the data............................................................................................110
Summary and concluding remarks..........................................................................112
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Part II Between the organisational efforts
5 Framing of claims: The relationship between the organisational efforts..................117
Popular images and voices from “below”................................................................117
Self-presentation of claimants.................................................................................120
Self-presentation as an ethnic minority...................................................................123
Quests for particularity – being “special”................................................................125
Overlap in the recruitment basis..............................................................................126
Shifting alliances and constellations........................................................................127
Histories of Pride vs. Histories of Misery................................................................131
Acting as Survivors of the Mission..........................................................................134
Victim status as resource and cost...........................................................................138
Counter-discourse or independent symbol systems?...............................................140
Concluding remarks.................................................................................................142
Part III Inside the organisational efforts
6 Conflict and distrust as signs of vulnerability: The relations between the activists
within the organisational efforts...................................................................................145
Self-respect, stigmatisation and internal cohesion...................................................145
Distrust turned inward.............................................................................................149
Denial of authority...................................................................................................153
Lack of team presentation of self.............................................................................158
Individual initiatives and avoidance of conflict.......................................................163
Lasting and unsubstantial issues between the participants......................................166
Concluding remarks.................................................................................................168
7 Acting on ‘Otherness’: The relationship between the activists and other category
members.......................................................................................................................171
Shame by association...............................................................................................171
Stated goals of community......................................................................................174
Detachment among claimants..................................................................................177
Recognition or ‘Othering’ of Travellers..................................................................181
Ambivalence about involving other category members in organisational activities186
Exhaustion and resignation (I).................................................................................186
Turning to outside supporters (II)............................................................................190
Combining group members and outside supporters (III).........................................191
Disappointment........................................................................................................192
Other peoples’ problems and misery.......................................................................193
Discussion: opportunities for agency?.....................................................................195
Concluding remarks.................................................................................................198
8 Between individual and collective claims: The organisation as action channel........201
Boundary drawing, connecting and fragmenting problem conditions.....................202
Expectations and obligations placed on claimants..................................................205
Claimants’ perception and account of the welfare-state services............................210
Ritual goodwill and censoriousnesson the part of claimants..................................213
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Demands of uniqueness and expressiveness............................................................217
Problems of boundary drawing among claimants....................................................219
Travellers: United in demands for compensation and redress.................................220
Discussion: expressiveness vs. predictability in interaction with the welfare state.224
Concluding remarks.................................................................................................227
9 The temporal dimension of the participants’ relationship to each other and the
organisation..................................................................................................................229
The temporal dimension of status............................................................................230
Socially prescribed duration of the claimant status.................................................232
Duration of the status as perceived by claimants.....................................................234
Actual duration of the claimant status.....................................................................236
Permanent temporality.............................................................................................240
Justifications for breaking or evading temporal expectations among claimants.....243
Travellers: coding of culture as nature....................................................................247
The temporal dimension of attachment to the organisation.....................................251
Concluding discussion: Did time matter?................................................................255
Part IV Between the organisational efforts and representatives of greater society
10 The charisma of the centre: The relationship between the organisation participants
and the elites.................................................................................................................261
Relations between centre and periphery..................................................................261
Ambivalence to contact with the government.........................................................264
Negative and positive spiral effects.........................................................................268
Laughter from the back bench.................................................................................271
Adjustments from below..........................................................................................272
Conformity pressure from above.............................................................................274
Neglect of Travellers’ opinions during the assimilation regime..............................276
Growing ease in relation to Travellers (I position)..................................................277
Contested support to losers (II position)..................................................................283
Ambivalence to the unemployed, poor and clients (III position)............................283
Discussion: inclusion, subordination or disciplining?.............................................287
Concluding remarks.................................................................................................293
11 The media as a third party: The relationship between the organisation participants
and the mass media.......................................................................................................295
The mass media as actor and resource in the welfare-policy field..........................295
Appearance of the innocent victim in the media.....................................................299
Virtual organisations?..............................................................................................308
The risks of seeking media attention.......................................................................314
Concluding discussion.............................................................................................316
Part V Conclusions and implications
12 Marginal citizenship and agency reconsidered........................................................323
The main findings....................................................................................................323
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Inside and outside the political system....................................................................330
Agency among the disadvantaged...........................................................................332
Categorical differences in opportunity structures....................................................336
Do small and short-term organisations matter?.......................................................340
Self-organisation and the pursuit of fuller citizenship.............................................342
References....................................................................................................................347
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Acknowledgements
During my work on this dissertation I have been indebted to a number of institutions
and persons. The Research Council of Norway, the Division of Culture and Society,
first granted financial support for a pilot project.1 Later, the Norwegian University of
Science and Technology’s Faculty of Social Sciences and Technology Management
granted a research fellowship. This gave methe opportunity to pursue the issue further.
My mentor Bjørn Hvinden has generously provided copious advice and support
during the entire period. The research project was first initiated after a proposal he
submitted to the Research Council of Norway. In some sections of the dissertation I
deliberately refer to “us”, although admittedly I have not been consistent in this regard. I
have done this in order to acknowledge the close co-operation with Bjørn in the data-
collection. Working with him in this way gave me a unique opportunity to learn more
about the craft of sociology than any course possibly could have offered. It has been a
pleasure working with him. The degree to which I have managed to accumulate research
competence during the processis largely due to him.
Staff at the Department of Sociology and Political Science, fellow doctoral
students and participants in our welfare policy seminar 1996-98 provided a stimulating
working environment. Karen-Sofie Pettersen generously shared her reflections on the
field of study with me. Outside the department Knut Fossestøl, Hedda Giertsen, Steinar
Kristiansen, Ragnhild Schlüter and Sissel Seim provided assistance, comments and
advice during various steps of the data collection and writing of the dissertation. John
Anthony and Eli Løfaldli assisted in improving language and style. Numerous others
have given important critical comments on my preliminary thoughts during research
seminars and conferences. The Government Employment Service, National Insurance
Services and Statistics Norway provided special statistics on social-security claimants
and recipients. All those mentioned above have contributed to improving the analysis,
but the responsibility forany shortcomings and errors is mine alone.
1
"Egenorganisering blant samfunnets utsatte: selvhjelp, interesseforvaltningog integrering", Grant no. 109709/510,
the research programme "Welfare and Society ".
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Finally, my thanks are due to all informants and interviewees who allowed me
access into their daily lives and spent their time assisting me. All personal names have
been deleted to protect their anonymity. The names of the organisations have been
retained, as this was an important aspect of the social mobilisation efforts. Admittedly, I
have not been consistent in my reference to both organisational efforts and just
organisations. The former is my more elaborate characterisation of the cases to stress
that they were in the making. The later is only an abbreviated form, and the process-
oriented conceptualisation of the cases is also implied in these sections of the
dissertation.
R.H.
Trondheim, August 2001
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Part I
Introduction
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