Working with, not on unemployed people: How to explore subjective unemployment experiences in the affective economy

The aim of this chapter is to discuss a methodology that enables scholars within the unemployment field to work with, not on, unemployed people. Working with involves taking unemployed people’s subjective vantage point as a fundamental starting point for analysis. Relying on rich qualitative data conducted with unemployed people in the Danish welfare state, I aim to conceptualize and discuss how we can meaningfully live up to that ethos based on an exemplary analysis of one selected interview out of a larger pool. Theoretically, the chapter is anchored in a critical social psychological approach based on governmentality studies combined with attention towards emotions. Building knowledge working with, rather than on, unemployed people allows us to better understand the struggles people find themselves in and their ways of dealing with the situation when faced with unemployment. The chapter will show that understanding the unemployment system from the perspective of unemployed people themselves is a fruitful foundation for capturing how unemployed people are also governed affectively, and this is an innovative contribution adding to the field of unemployment studies. The existing rules and demands are developed in relation to a traditional labor market; however, according to the analysis, the unemployment system needs to be updated in relation to a more precarious labor market. Navigating the labor market, the young unemployed people conduct themselves more aligned with entrepreneurial ideals and they “work around” the demands of activity – but it comes with the prize of feeling afraid and under suspicion as they do not just comply with the official rules and demands.