Introduction

For decades, unemployed people have been governed by policies arising from what has been termed ‘the activity paradigm’ aimed at constructing the ‘active jobseeker’. These active labor market policies (ALMPs) have resulted in a responsibilization and, consequently, unemployment has increasingly been understood as a private problem, making the unemployed person prone to self-blame (Sharone, Flawed system/flawed self: Job searching and unemployment experiences. University of Chicago Press, 2013a). By linking unemployment to the individual, unemployment must be solved by the individual working on herself in various ways: by becoming more active, more outgoing, more motivated. This has paved the way for what I term a psychologization of unemployment (Pultz, It’s not you, it’s me: Governing the unemployed self in the Danish welfare state. Copenhagen University, 2017). Nowadays, policies and administering policies are not only targeting unemployed people’s behavior but also demanding them to apply for a certain number of jobs per week. Increasingly, strategies and programs are put in place to govern the unemployed person through their feelings, emotions, and affective currencies. No longer does the unemployed person only have to apply for a job, they should want to apply for a job and display sufficient levels of motivation. In addition, having the right competencies is not enough—you need to be able to communicate your competences in an affective language, convincing and persuading others about your passion, dedication, and motivation. But how are these new, more affective, policies and practices designed and what are their effects: both the intended and the unintended ones seen from the unemployed person’s vantage point?