Inclusion and Structural Processes of Young Recipients of “Unemployment II Benefits”

This paper discusses first findings of a research project that tries to reconstruct biographical developments of young adults who are perceived as especially difficult to “include” – due to their precarious status as recipients of “unemployment II benefits”. I am especially interested in turns of events that appear surprising in the eyes of professionals and of creative “metamorphosis” (Schütze  2001). In terms of biographical analysis a special focus is put on “structural processes” (Schütze 1981) of the young adults. There have been approaches to understand the situation of young people receiving unemployment II benefits in recent studies (i.e. Schreyer/Zahradnik/Götz 2012), but the focus on the biographical context and especially the relationship with relevant professionals is missing so far. Autobiographical-narrative interviews with the target group are being conducted according to the concept of „theoretical sampling“ (Glaser/Strauss 1967). Insights into the interaction with the professionals are gained on the basis of spontaneous narratives of professionals (in this case: counselors in the job center etc.) about the history of their working relationships with clients (Riemann 2000).  

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