Heroes, Victims, and Resisters: Agentic Vulnerability and Techniques of Identity Talk in Digitalized Job Centers

Abstract

This article explores vulnerable clients' techniques of identity talk, drawing on interviews with clients in Danish job centers. We combine the theoretical perspective of symbolic interactionism with the sociology of nothing to explore techniques of disidentification from the nonworker identity. The study demonstrates how the actors perform agentic vulnerability to resolve their identity dilemmas. We identify three techniques of identity talk: (1) hero-talk to reassert their hard worker identity, (2) victim-talk to excuse their current positions, and (3) resister-talk through commissive and omissive responses to digital demands and requirements. The latter involves different forms of negational action: doing something, nondoing, and doing nothing.