The boundaries of unemployment institutional rules and real-life experiences

Abstract

This text examines current trends in unemployment by focusing on its boundaries. These are considered as fluctuating, and two aspects of their dynamics are successively analysed. A first institutional dimension refers to the evolution of norms and rules contributing to the establishment of social and legal statuses and to access to material resources (unemployment benefits, employment policy measures). A second, biographical, dimension focuses on subjective experiences, including the meanings invested in the unemployed condition (affiliation, identity claims) and future projections (accessible and valued positions). We argue that these two types of boundaries evolve in contradictory directions: a contraction and an enlargement of unemployment. These contradictory tendencies ultimately challenge the permanence of the category of unemployment.