Biography and Social Exclusion in Europe : Experiences and Life Journeys

Throughout Europe, standardised approaches to social policy and practice are being radically questioned and modified. Beginning from the narrative detail of individual lives, this book re-thinks welfare predicaments, emphasising gender, generation, ethnic and class implications of economic and social deregulation. Taking an innovative socio-biographical approach to comparative social policy, it argues that understanding individually differentiated biographical resources and strategies provides a bedrock for the appropriate training and effective practice of policy-makers, practitioners and researchers. Based on 250 life-story interviews in seven European Union countries, this work: analyses personal struggles against social exclusion to illuminate local milieus and changing welfare regimes and contexts; points to challenging new agendas for European politics and welfare, beyond the rhetoric of communitarianism and the New Deal; vividly illustrates the lived experience and environmental complexity working for and against structural processes of social exclusion; re-fashions the interpretive tradition as a teaching and research tool linking macro- and micro- realities. Students, academic teachers and professional trainers, practitioners, politicians, policy makers and researchers in applied and comparative welfare fields should all benefit from reading this book. Policy Press BIOGRAPHY AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION IN EUROPE 2 Contents 4 Abbreviations 6 Acknowledgements 7 Notes on contributors 8 1. Introduction: from biography to social policy 12 Understanding life journeys 13 Social theory and social change 16 Mobilities and liquidities 17 Invisible structures of power 18 Mapping mobile societies with biographical research methods 19 Social policy and practice in risk societies 21 Political scripts 26 Case studies in teaching and learning 27 2. Suffering the fall of the Berlin Wall: blocked journeys in Spain and Germany 34 Introduction 34 ‘Biographical blockage’, and peoples’ experience of it 34 Nicolás 35 Memories of a happy childhood 37 Background: the Spanish welfare process and the promise of higher education 39 Heike 42 Background: the East German transformation as biographical challenge 44 Choose what you must 45 No way out and disenchantment 46 Discussion: the significance of the fall of the Berlin Wall 47 The pace of social change and biographical requirements of the future 48 3. Guilty victims: social exclusion in contemporary France 52 A short story about an empty box 52 Fear, pity and guilt 53 Subjectivity without a subject? 55 The case of Irène 56 The experienced world of vulnerability 58 From biography to social policy 64 Destiny and nature 66 4. Premodernity and postmodernity in Southern Italy 72 Filippo 73 Franco 78 Comparing cases 81 Rethinking policy 83 5. A tale of class differences in contemporary Britain 88 The experience of occupational risk in the working class 90 Harold 90 Donald 93 Middle-class experiences of occupational stress 98 Peter 99 Pat 104 6. The shortest way out of work 108 Tony 110 Gérard 114 Social death and the injuries to the self 118 7. Male journeys into uncertainty 126 Dionysios: a traditional male? 128 Bernard: reconstructing a male identity 132 Discussion 135 8. Love and emancipation 142 Introduction 142 Dimensions of love 142 The dimension of emancipation 145 Love as an emancipatory force 146 Conclusions and policy making 156 9. Female identities in late modernity 162 Rita: working for the family 163 Marisa: work as self-realisation 166 Sonia: the risk of paralysis 174 From tradition to uncertainty. Implications for gender identity and policies 178 10. Gender and family in the development of Greek state and society 186 Introduction 186 Structural factors in family and individual histories 188 Conclusions 200 11. Corporatist structures and cultural diversity in Sweden 204 Post-Fordism and the welfare state model 204 Changes in the character of work in the 1990s 206 The new social economy 206 Individual cases 207 Two cases of early retirement 207 Two cases of unskilled youth 210 Cultural diversity and business corporations in the 1990s 212 The Swedish story of postwar immigration 213 Industrial stories: immigrant labour and cultural diversity 214 Four refugee cases 216 Refugees and the social economy sector 219 Conclusions 219 12. ‘Migrants’: a target-category for social policy? Experiences of first-generation migration 224 The social position of immigrants in ‘modern societies’ 225 The biographical meaning of experiences of migration 227 Ana 228 Sasa Koaté 230 Conclusions 234 ‘Migrants’: a target-category for social policy? 236 13. Second-generation transcultural lives 240 Djamillah 243 Zenon 247 Steven 250 Conclusion 254 14. Biographical work and agency innovation: relationships, reflexivity and theory-in-use 258 Introduction 258 1. The Bromley-by-Bow Centre 260 2. What questions and issues arise? 264 3. Our conception of the person controls our understanding of the task 270 Conclusion 272 15. Conclusions: social transitions and biographical work 280 The extent of social change 281 A new design for social policy 289 Conclusion 295 Appendix A: Discovering biographies in changing social worlds: the biographical–interpretive method 300 The use of personal documents in a historical perspective 300 The principles of hermeneutic case reconstruction 303 The biographical narrative interview 304 Hermeneutic case reconstruction 306 The question of generalisation 310 Case reconstruction in the field of social policy? 313 Appendix B: Historicising the ‘socio’, theory, and the constant comparative method 320 Overview 320 Historicising the ‘socio’ 322 Mistake 1: hoping to discover the typicality of cases 325 Mistake 2: expecting to start from, or achieve, a common meta-narrative or macro-model 327 The ‘actual’ as an anomaly for previous (grand or grounded) theory 328 The abstraction of micro-interactions from their contexts 330 Our concern for the historical specificity of particular cases 331 The constant comparative method 332 Conclusion 334 Index 340 ISBN-13:,9781861343093 Based On 250 Life-story Interviews In Seven Eu Countries, This Text Analyses Personal Struggles Against Social Exclusion And Highlights How They Are Affected By Changing Welfare Regimes. It Emphasises The Ethnic, Gender, Generation And Class Implications Of Economic And Social Deregulation. 1. Introduction: From Biography To Social Policy / Michael Rustin And Prue Chamberlayne -- 2. Suffering The Fall Of The Berlin Wall: Blocked Journeys In Spain And Germany / William Hungerbuhler, Elisabet Tejero And Laura Torrabadella -- 3. Guilty Victims: Social Exclusion In Contemporary France / Numa Murard -- 4. Premodernity And Postmodernity In Southern Italy / Antonella Spano -- 5. A Tale Of Class Differences In Contemporary Britain / Michael Rustin -- 6. The Shortest Way Out Of Work / Numa Murard -- 7. Male Journeys Into Uncertainty / Elisabeth Ioannidi-kapolou And Elizabeth Mestheneos -- 8. Love And Emancipation / Birgitta Thorsell -- 9. Female Identities In Late Modernity / Antonella Spano -- 10. Gender And Family In The Development Of Greek State And Society / Elizabeth Mestheneos And Elisabeth Ioannidi-kapolou -- 11. Corporatist Structures And Cultural Diversity In Sweden / Martin Peterson -- 12. 'migrants': A Target-category For Social Policy? Experiences Of First-generation Migration / Roswitha Breckner -- 13. Second-generation Transcultural Lives / Prue Chamberlayne -- 14. Biographical Work And Agency Innovation: Relationships, Reflexivity And Theory-in-use / Tom Wengraf -- 15. Conclusions: Social Transitions And Biographical Work / Prue Chamberlayne -- App. A. Discovering Biographies In Changing Social Worlds: The Biographical-interpretive Method / Roswitha Breckner And Susanne Rupp -- App. B. Historicising The 'socio', Theory, And The Constant Comparative Method / Tom Wengrof. Edited By Prue Chamberlayne, Michael Rustin And Tom Wengraf With Roswitha Breckner ... [et Al.]. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Based on 250 life-story interviews in seven European Union countries, Biography and social exclusion in Europe: analyses personal struggles against social exclusion to illuminate local milieus and changing welfare regimes and contexts; points to challenging new agendas for European politics and welfare, beyond the rhetoric of communitarianism and the New Deal; vividly illustrates the lived experience and environmental complexity working for and against structural processes of social exclusion; refashions the interpretive tradition as a teaching and research tool linking macro and micro realities. · · Students, academic teachers and professional trainers, practitioners, politicians, policy makers and researchers in applied and comparative welfare fields will all benefit from reading this book.Based on 250 life-story interviews in seven European Union countries, Biography and social exclusion in Europe: analyses personal struggles against social exclusion to illuminate local milieus and changing welfare regimes and contexts; points to challenging new agendas for European politics and welfare, beyond the rhetoric of communitarianism and the New Deal; vividly illustrates the lived experience and environmental complexity working for and against structural processes of social exclusion; refashions the interpretive tradition as a teaching and research tool linking macro and micro realities. · · Students, academic teachers and professional trainers, practitioners, politicians, policy makers and researchers in applied and comparative welfare fields will all benefit from reading this book

Based on 250 life-story interviews in seven European Union countries, Biography and social exclusion in Europe: analyses personal struggles against social exclusion to illuminate local milieus and changing welfare regimes and contexts; points to challenging new agendas for European politics and welfare, beyond the rhetoric of communitarianism and the New Deal; vividly illustrates the lived experience and environmental complexity working for and against structural processes of social exclusion; refashions the interpretive tradition as a teaching and research tool linking macro and micro realities. ·· Students, academic teachers and professional trainers, practitioners, politicians, policy makers and researchers in applied and comparative welfare fields will all benefit from reading this book.