How can labour market policy in Austria support young people entering the workforce? We conducted an interview with author Alban Knecht about his new book “Social Work in the Changing Welfare State” (also published in German as: “Mit Sozialpolitik regieren”). It’s a resource-theoretical policy analysis of employment promotion for disadvantaged youth in Austria.
Interview on
“Social Work in the Changing Welfare State”
Dear Alban Knecht, what is “Social Work in the Changing Welfare State” about?
Over the past 20 years, Austria has implemented many measures for young people who cannot find apprenticeships. In the book, I trace which political groups advocated for measures such as company subsidies, training guarantees, or mandatory education, and the arguments they used. Additionally, I inquire about the effects of these measures on social work and young people.
How did you come up with the idea to write this book? Was there a “trigger”?
The book is based on the results of several projects. The trigger actually emerged through the analysis: the far-right FPÖ, which claims to advocate for “ordinary people,” vigorously supported indiscriminate corporate subsidies, from which only a few affluent individuals actually benefit, and which are not particularly efficient.
How is your underlying study methodologically framed in the book?
In the underlying projects, we combined an argumentative discourse analysis with an analysis of institutional changes as part of a policy analysis. Among other things, I examined the relevant legislative changes over the past 20 years.
You published the book in German last month. What prompted you to release the book in English as well?
There are three points that make the book relevant for an international audience: The analysis of policy processes on the basis of socio-political guiding principles and the methods of interweaving discourse analysis and the analysis of institutional change are of general methodological interest. Furthermore, the Austrian Youth Guarantee was taken as a blueprint for the European Youth Guarantee, so the roots of this EU-system are presented. Moreover, there is little literature in English on the Austrian apprenticeship and training system anyway.
How would you summarise the study results in a maximum of three sentences?
The perspective on disadvantaged youth is very deficit-oriented, even though their situation is more a result of discrimination and exclusion. This deficit-oriented perspective is used by politics to introduce measures that often do not focus on the youth but pursue, for example, economic policy goals. In reality, young people in this area are not involved in decisions, even though youth participation is otherwise a significant issue.
Why I am an author at Budrich
I greatly enjoyed the excellent personal support, which ultimately made it possible for the book “Social Work in the Changing Welfare State” to be published in both German and English.
Order this book in our webshop
Alban Knecht
Volume 14, Series ÖFEB-Sektion Sozialpädagogik
Also available in open access
The Author
Dr. Alban Knecht, Research Associate at the Institute of Educational Science and Educational Research at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria.
The book brings together research results from the past ten years as a cumulative habilitation thesis. In it, I combine my theoretical interest in resource-based approaches with research on employment promotion for disadvantaged youth or youth vocational assistance. These themes fit into my other areas of interest, poverty research, and social policy.
About the Book
How can employment policies support young people entering the labour market? Alban Knecht analyses the changes in political discourses and social-political measures with regards to employment promotion for disadvantaged young people in Austria. Against the background of his resource theory, he discusses measures such as inter-company apprenticeships, youth guarantee, and compulsory training and illustrates the impact that the social investment paradigm as well as the capability-orientated, neoliberal, and right-wing populist approaches may have on the practical work of professionals and on the young people concerned.
