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WRAP Theses Bantock 2018.Pdf A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick Permanent WRAP URL: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/135005 Copyright and reuse: This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: [email protected] warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications Cashless Welfare Payments and Everyday Life: A Study of South Africa and Australia Luke Bantock A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Politics and International Studies Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick October 2018 iv Table of Contents INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 1 Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 10 Structure of the thesis ............................................................................................................... 24 CHAPTER ONE: STATE WELFARE IN CAPITALIST SOCIETY28 1. Welfare in capitalist societies ................................................................................................. 30 1.1 Karl Polanyi: The state, welfare and capitalist society ....................................................... 30 1.2 Contingent welfare .............................................................................................................. 35 2. The embedded liberal welfare settlement ............................................................................. 39 2.1 Embedded liberal governance ............................................................................................. 40 2.2 Embedded liberal accumulation ......................................................................................... 43 3. Neoliberal welfare settlement ................................................................................................. 47 3.1 Governance: Discipline and stigma .................................................................................... 49 3.2 Governance: Inclusion ........................................................................................................ 52 3.3 Governance: Surveillance ................................................................................................... 54 3.4 Accumulation: Privatisation ............................................................................................... 56 3.5 Accumulation: Commodification of labour ........................................................................ 58 3.6 Accumulation: Financialisation .......................................................................................... 60 4. Problematising welfare settlements ....................................................................................... 64 4.1 Modes of payment .............................................................................................................. 64 4.2 Welfare and the everyday ................................................................................................... 65 5. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 69 CHAPTER TWO: THE EVERYDAY TURN AND WELFARE PAYMENTS .......................................................................................... 71 1. The Everyday Turn in IPE ..................................................................................................... 73 2. Henri Lefebvre and Everyday Life ........................................................................................ 76 2.1 The Everyday, capitalism and alienation ............................................................................ 76 2.2 The state, space and the concept of programming .............................................................. 78 2.3 Everyday Life ..................................................................................................................... 82 3. Programming (welfare) payments ......................................................................................... 88 3.1 Programming: Social meanings of money .......................................................................... 89 v 3.2 Programming: Everyday financialisation ........................................................................... 95 4. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 102 CHAPTER THREE: CASHLESS WELFARE PAYMENTS IN INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT ....................................................... 104 1. Proponents and the discourse of CWP ................................................................................ 106 1.1 Providers ........................................................................................................................... 107 1.2 Advocates ......................................................................................................................... 109 2. The ideal types of CWP ........................................................................................................ 114 2.1 Inclusive Cashless Welfare Payments .............................................................................. 115 2.2 Disciplinary Cashless Welfare Payments ......................................................................... 126 3. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 137 CHAPTER FOUR: CONTEXTUALISING THE SASSA CARD . 141 1. The historical and institutional context of the SASSA Card ............................................. 143 1.1 South African political economy ...................................................................................... 143 1.2 South African Social Protection ....................................................................................... 145 1.3 The SASSA Card .............................................................................................................. 149 2. The discursive context of the SASSA card .......................................................................... 152 2.1 Dignity .............................................................................................................................. 152 2.2 Dignity via poverty alleviation ......................................................................................... 155 2.3 Dignity via financial inclusion .......................................................................................... 158 3. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 163 CHAPTER FIVE: NEOLIBERALISATION AND THE INCLUSIVE SASSA CARD ..................................................................................... 165 1. Governing with the SASSA card .......................................................................................... 167 1.1 Creating identities ............................................................................................................. 167 1.2 Infrastructuring cashless ................................................................................................... 172 2. Accumulating through the SASSA card .............................................................................. 180 2.1 Privatisation and microtransactions .................................................................................. 180 2.2 Privatisation and third-party involvement ........................................................................ 184 2.3 Financialising with the SASSA card ................................................................................ 188 2.4 The contradictions of neoliberalisation ............................................................................ 194 3. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 200 vi CHAPTER SIX: CONTEXTUALISING THE AUSTRALIAN CASHLESS DEBIT CARD ..................................................................................... 203 1. The historical and institutional context of the CDC .......................................................... 204 1.1 The political economy of Australian welfare ................................................................... 204 1.2 The Cashless Debit Card .................................................................................................. 210 2. The discursive context of the CDC ...................................................................................... 215 2.1 Responding to a policy need ............................................................................................. 215 2.2 Community demand and interest ...................................................................................... 219 2.3 Taxpayers’ Money ............................................................................................................ 223 3. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................
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