Programme full

Thursday 16 April 2016 15:30 - 17:00
PAPER SESSION 6 / PECHA KUCHA SESSIONS
on its own, to theorise their disappearance. Addressing this gap in the theory of morphogenesis opens interesting
avenues for the philosophical study of society.
Our contribution is organised around three related questions. Firstly, how should we conceptualise the disappearance
of social forms and how can this conceptualisation draw from the biological conception of death? Secondly, how do
concept-dependence and reflexivity differentiate social death from biological death? Thirdly, how can we observe and
interpret the agonies that accompany the death of social forms?
We conclude by providing an illustration of how the theory might be applied to a case with significant current
socioeconomic ramifications: the disappearance of lifelong employment in developed capitalist economies.
Work, Employment and Economic Life 1 – Pecha Kucha
A005, GOVAN MBEKI BUILDING
Intergenerational Transmission of Job Insecurity: Linking Parents’ Job Experience and Children’s Work
Preferences And Expectations
Lübke, C.
(University of Duisburg-Essen)
As the labour market becomes increasingly flexible, a growing part of workers has to cope with precarious work
arrangements and the experience of job insecurity. Aside from the causes of this trend, questions concerning the
societal and individual consequences of self-perceived job insecurity have attracted great attention. It is therefore wellknown
that besides others job insecurity affects the ability to make long-lasting decisions. Thereby, it should be noted
that these consequences may not be limited to workers who are exposed to insecure working conditions. Rather, it
can be assumed that the experience of job insecurity will be passed on children and will therefore also influence the
life of the next generation. However, the intergenerational transmission of job insecurity has rarely been addressed so
far.
To fill in this gap, this paper explores the relationship between parent's self-perceived job insecurity on the one hand
and occupational preferences and expectations of their adolescent children on the other. How does the perception of
job insecurity affect adolescent preferences for stable jobs? How do children who see their parents suffering from
insecure working conditions rate their own employment opportunities? The descriptive and multivariate analyses are
based on household panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP, 2000-2013) which provide
information on parents and their adolescent children. The findings will encourage a debate of how self-perceived job
insecurity contributes to reproduce social inequality as they clearly show that expectations concerning labour market
participation are transmitted from parents to children.
A Capability Approach to Young People’s Participation and Agency in Youth Activation Policies
Egdell, V., Graham, H.
(Edinburgh Napier University)
Youth unemployment is a major government concern in the UK, with the youth (16-24 years) unemployment rate
greater than that for 25-64 year olds. This paper takes a Capability Approach to investigate young people's
participation and agency in the development and implementation of youth activation policies. The Capability Approach,
developed by Amartya Sen, is centred on the freedom and opportunity individuals have to make choices that they
value. A Capability Approach to employment activation promotes the freedom of an individual to choose the work that
is of value to them. It proposes that individuals should have a voice and agency in the development and
implementation of the employment activation programmes to which they are subject. Drawing on in-depth qualitative
research undertaken in Scotland, the paper explores unemployed young people's capability for voice by analysing
how far, and in what ways, their ideas, experiences and voices are included in policymaking and implementation. In
this paper, questions are asked about: how different voices are included in policy processes; what is meaningful
engagement and participation; and what enables voice taking and voice making. Conclusions are made regarding the
importance of developing the voice and agency of unemployed youth, as well as the implications of taking a Capability
Approach to the development and implementation of youth employment activation policies. To date there has been
little sociological engagement with the Capability Approach and the paper demonstrates the relevance of the approach
for understanding inequalities.
221 BSA Annual Conference 2015
Glasgow Caledonian University