The Paradox of Self-Organisation among Disadvantaged People: A Study of Marginal Citizenship Rune Halvorsen Dr.polit. avhandling i sosiologi 2002 Institutt for sosiologi og statsvitenskap Fakultet for samfunnsvitenskap og teknologiledelse Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, NTNU Trondheim ISBN 82-471-5083-2 2 Contents Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... 7 Part I Introduction 1 The problem of marginal citizenship........................................................................... 11 Unexpected successes vis-à-vis the greater society................................................... 12 Self-organisation among the disadvantaged as a theoretical challenge..................... 17 Research objectives.................................................................................................... 20 2 Welfare-policy contexts of the attempts at self-organisation ...................................... 23 Steering problems and problems of democracy......................................................... 23 Citizenship, inclusion and exclusion ......................................................................... 26 Activation from above, participation from below ..................................................... 32 Multiculturalism......................................................................................................... 36 Norway as laboratory................................................................................................. 39 Concluding remarks................................................................................................... 47 3 Theoretical perspectives on mobilisation and marginality.......................................... 49 Perspectives on marginality as poverty ..................................................................... 50 Perspectives on marginality as deviance ................................................................... 57 Perspectives on marginality as disempowerment ...................................................... 63 Perspectives on social mobilisation: conflict groups................................................. 67 Perspectives on social mobilisation: resources, opportunities, frames...................... 71 Perspectives on social mobilisation: conversion of capital ....................................... 73 Summary and concluding remarks ............................................................................ 76 4 Design and methods in the data collection .................................................................. 83 Case-oriented approach.............................................................................................. 83 Bound generalisations in open systems ..................................................................... 88 Category comparison ................................................................................................. 93 Generative models ..................................................................................................... 96 Selection of cases....................................................................................................... 98 Core issues in the data collection............................................................................. 102 The data collection................................................................................................... 103 Further experiences from interviews and access ..................................................... 108 Presentation of the data............................................................................................ 110 Summary and concluding remarks .......................................................................... 112 3 Part II Between the organisational efforts 5 Framing of claims: The relationship between the organisational efforts .................. 117 Popular images and voices from “below”................................................................ 117 Self-presentation of claimants ................................................................................. 120 Self-presentation as an ethnic minority ................................................................... 123 Quests for particularity – being “special”................................................................ 125 Overlap in the recruitment basis .............................................................................. 126 Shifting alliances and constellations........................................................................ 127 Histories of Pride vs. Histories of Misery................................................................ 131 Acting as Survivors of the Mission.......................................................................... 134 Victim status as resource and cost ........................................................................... 138 Counter-discourse or independent symbol systems?............................................... 140 Concluding remarks................................................................................................. 142 Part III Inside the organisational efforts 6 Conflict and distrust as signs of vulnerability: The relations between the activists within the organisational efforts................................................................................... 145 Self-respect, stigmatisation and internal cohesion................................................... 145 Distrust turned inward ............................................................................................. 149 Denial of authority................................................................................................... 153 Lack of team presentation of self............................................................................. 158 Individual initiatives and avoidance of conflict....................................................... 163 Lasting and unsubstantial issues between the participants ...................................... 166 Concluding remarks................................................................................................. 168 7 Acting on ‘Otherness’: The relationship between the activists and other category members ....................................................................................................................... 171 Shame by association............................................................................................... 171 Stated goals of community ...................................................................................... 174 Detachment among claimants.................................................................................. 177 Recognition or ‘Othering’ of Travellers .................................................................. 181 Ambivalence about involving other category members in organisational activities186 Exhaustion and resignation (I)................................................................................. 186 Turning to outside supporters (II)............................................................................ 190 Combining group members and outside supporters (III)......................................... 191 Disappointment........................................................................................................ 192 Other peoples’ problems and misery ....................................................................... 193 Discussion: opportunities for agency?..................................................................... 195 Concluding remarks................................................................................................. 198 8 Between individual and collective claims: The organisation as action channel........ 201 Boundary drawing, connecting and fragmenting problem conditions..................... 202 Expectations and obligations placed on claimants .................................................. 205 Claimants’ perception and account of the welfare-state services............................ 210 Ritual goodwill and censoriousness on the part of claimants.................................. 213 4 Demands of uniqueness and expressiveness............................................................ 217 Problems of boundary drawing among claimants.................................................... 219 Travellers: United in demands for compensation and redress................................. 220 Discussion: expressiveness vs. predictability in interaction with the welfare state. 224 Concluding remarks................................................................................................. 227 9 The temporal dimension of the participants’ relationship to each other and the organisation .................................................................................................................. 229 The temporal dimension of status............................................................................ 230 Socially prescribed duration of the claimant status ................................................. 232 Duration of the status as perceived by claimants..................................................... 234 Actual duration of the claimant status ..................................................................... 236 Permanent temporality............................................................................................. 240 Justifications for breaking