Familienleben im Kontext wohlfahrtsstaatlicher Abhängigkeiten

The article highlights the practices of families in receiving basic income support for job seekers from a family sociological perspective. It examines the challenges families face when receiving minimum income benefits and how families develop leeway by interacting with social assistance institutions. The argumentation is based on a case reconstructive explorative study on the interaction effects between family dynamics and institutional contexts of means tested basic income support for job seekers (Grundsicherung für Arbeitssuchende). In this study, family biographical interviews with single parents and family couples, and additional expert interviews with job center staff were conducted. Using concepts from qualitative poverty research and family sociology, the article first identifies the practical challenges of social control institutions in everyday family life and—using the Doing Family approach—distinguishes dimensions of family practices in dealing with them. Empirically, typical strategies of parents in their interactions with job center staff, in particular in labor market activation services, are discussed: concealment, personalization and strategies of long-term learning. Case studies and results from expert interviews emphasize that the strategies refer to complex family trajectories, crisis phases and a long history of experiences with the minimum income system and how these are influenced by the institutional framework. From a family practices perspective, the results point to an institutional mismatch within the German welfare regime.