Workfare as Othering

Participants in Workfare programs are often viewed as the “other”. What exactly does this mean? Well, “othering” is a term that refers to a type of discrimination that a group of individuals experiences when they are the minority group or are dominated by other groups. In the case of Workfare, participants of Workfare programs are othered because they enter into job roles in which employers, other employees, and the public sees them as not quite belonging, or not really a true fit in their work environment. The issue of othering in this context has a lot to do with the stigma attached to being on social assistance and how this stigma hurts those on social assistance in their everyday lives and the roles they attempt to fill.

Social assistance, and Workfare specifically, is a good idea with good intentions, but Workfare involves more than just an idea. When human beings are involved, opinions, thoughts, values, and beliefs are involved as well. This means that, in terms of Workfare, the idea itself may be great (let’s face it, in its simplest form, working-for-welfare is awesome; you work, you get paid for your work, everybody wins, right?) but the application of this idea in the real world may be less than great (Everybody wins? Wrong. There are many complex issues that come into play with an idea like Workfare, such as ability, eligibility, education, quality of work opportunities, individual differences, and that big one: “the future”). Although there is virtually no one idea in existence that each and every person on Earth agrees with, there are certain ideas that are more controversial, and Workfare seems to be one of them. A major flaw with Workfare is that it doesn’t take into account individual differences. What this means is that Workfare fails to recognize the unique and personal situations of Workfare participants, and tends to group workers all in one group. Generalizations like this never work, and in Workfare it is extremely detrimental to oversimplify the diversity in Workfare populations because without taking unique circumstances into account, a large number of Workfare participants are unfairly viewed by others. This unfair view is exactly what “othering” is; it’s the generalization of the Workfare participant population as people different from the rest of the working world. They’re different because they receive social assistance. They’re different because they are working in order to receive their welfare cheques. They’re different for countless reasons, but in order to really work, Workfare needs to recognize that we’re all unique individuals with unique needs. By categorizing Workfare participants as the “other” we’re perpetuating a discriminatory attitude that is hurtful, not helpful.

There is a quote that applies well to this idea of taking individual differences into consideration. The quote says: “Fair does not mean everyone getting the same thing; Fair means everyone getting what they need”. The most well-known stigma that surrounds social assistance recipients is the idea that they are lazy and looking for a free ride. Those that subscribe to this view see Workfare recipients as burdens to society who can’t find their own work, and may consider it unfair that Workfare participants have jobs found for them, whereas non-social assistance folks find their own work. It may even be deemed an unfair advantage that Workfare participants have jobs supplied for them. There seems to be some disagreement as to whether or not Workfare participants take jobs away from regular working individuals. Some sources claim that this does happen and others claim this is absolutely not the case. Whatever the fact is, there exists stigma that Workfare participants enjoy certain benefits that regular working individuals do not. Again, this generalizes the Workfare population and fails to recognize the particular hardships and unique circumstances that they may be experiencing day to day. Workfare participants are, in fact, not always getting what they need, as the quote above commands for fairness. Workfare participants are exempt from many job perks and rights that regular workers take for granted. This is unfair. While regular working individuals recognize their own day to day stresses and difficulties, they often fail to recognize those same stresses that affect Workfare participants. In order to be fair, working together to understand each other would be conducive to a state closer to what may be called “fair”.

A major benefit to working together to understand each other’s individual differences is a boost of employee morale. It’s true that Workfare policy may put a strain on employers, Workfare participants, and other employees as well. Other workers may relate to the above paragraph and may hold certain prejudices against and beliefs about Workfare participants that create a stressful, unpleasant, and perhaps even quarrelsome work environment for all involved. Educating workers, both “regular” and Workfare workers, about each other’s positions and situations may not necessarily lead to people liking each other, but understanding each other would allow for a more cooperative and sensible work environment.

Othering is never acceptable. Workfare is only one of many upon many examples of an “us-versus-them” mentality that exists in our world today. It is particularly poignant that a Workfare participant’s main source of oppression is oftentimes his or her own peers. Whether it is a fellow worker, a fellow female/male, a fellow parent, etc, Workfare participants’ peers are exceptionally misunderstanding of these workers. From our anti-oppressive standpoint, we can see that this is extremely troubling because it traps Workfare participants into that “other” position that is separate from the rest of society and from their so-called peers.

Jean Swanson leaves us with some food for thought in relation to resisting Workfare:
• Myths portray people on welfare as opting for a so-called life of ease on welfare instead of grinding away at jobs. In fact, life on welfare is usually desperate and the amount of money people get it only about a quarter to a half of the poverty line
• Myths charge that thousands of jobs go vacant while thousands lounge on welfare. In fact, there aren’t nearly enough jobs for all the unemployed
• Government officials and the media use a special language that blames poor people for the poor economy, and gives the impression that punitive policies are somehow really good for people on welfare
• Some working people, justifiably angry at falling wages and diminishing job security, turn unjustifiably on the poor instead of the wealthy who make economic decisions and could afford to pay more taxes
• We must fight workfare because it’s part of the competitive impoverishment of the global economy; because it’s a direct threat to the jobs and wages of those who are working; and because it won’t get anyone out of poverty



*Note: For an interesting video, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4vDQPDrfXQ