The Intimate Dance of Networking

The emotional debt experienced by unemployed people is linked to the need to actively use and put into play personal and social abilities in networking practices. Many unemployed people describe having to draw on contacts and get help from network while being unemployed to discover otherwise unknown job opportunities. This is often accompanied by an inner conversation about which way it is best to activate network and also give back in what is often referred to as the ‘two-way street’. Reaching out often comes with a sense of being in debt or wanting to pay back at a later stage in life. From the previous chapter, the workings of shame have been elaborated, but we have not yet investigated how the workings of shame position the unemployed person in terms of networking practices. To investigate the specifics of how networking is invoked in technologies of power and those of the self, I explore how unemployed people govern themselves in relation to the emotional labor that is required of them in networking. What are the affective currencies at play in networking practices? This chapter is based in a cross-national comparison of Danish and American jobseekers. This comparison is fruitful as it enables me to better see what the exact DNA of the Danish employment system is and explore what the welfare state means in terms of shaping the unemployment experience. The Danish welfare system is universal and relatively generous, and the American system is characterized as a liberal welfare regime. In that sense the comparison is done with cases of maximum variation (Flyvbjerg, Qualitative Inquiry, 12(2), 219–245, 2006). The analysis builds on the interviews with Danish jobseekers as well as interviews with 15 American jobseekers conducted in 2015 as well as field observations made in Copenhagen and Boston. In both sites a networking technology is deployed in institutionalized practices encouraging unemployed people to relate to themselves through this lens. Networking stands out as a crucial challenge, and this is related to the overall psychologization of the unemployment issue as it inevitably calls the personality and social skills to the fore in the quest for a job. Governing is not just a matter of governing isolated individuals. It is also a matter of targeting their relations and networks as a potential powerful resource in self-management.