Nothingness and Time

Unemployment is not just an economic category but is constituted by governmentality (Foucault, 2010), most evidently by the increase of interventions into the lives of the unemployed through Active Labour Market Policies (ALMP). Furthermore, the International Labour Organization (ILO) definition of...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tom Boland, Ray Griffin
Format: Article
Language:fra
Published: ADR Temporalités 2019-10-01
Series:Temporalités
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/temporalites/6202
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1846130995338674176
author Tom Boland
Ray Griffin
author_facet Tom Boland
Ray Griffin
author_sort Tom Boland
collection DOAJ
description Unemployment is not just an economic category but is constituted by governmentality (Foucault, 2010), most evidently by the increase of interventions into the lives of the unemployed through Active Labour Market Policies (ALMP). Furthermore, the International Labour Organization (ILO) definition of unemployment as being without work, available for work and seeking work is a shifting classification which categorises unemployment on multiple temporal horizons, with the passive element of being without work increasingly superseded by the emphasis on seeking work. Through biographical interviews with unemployed in Ireland, spanning from 2012-2018, we trace this transformation of temporality empirically and conclude that governmentality constitutes multiple, contradictory, indefinite forms of time. Particularly, we offer an imaginative reading of two overlapping temporalities: Kairos, waiting, enduring, suffering nothingness in anticipation of transformation by getting a job, and Cronos, not cyclical time, but the devouring of time, where the days and leisure of the unemployed people are deliberately consumed by job-seeking. Ironically, states implement ALMPs in the kairotic hope of transforming their economy, yet these policies do little but make the experience of unemployment even harder to endure.
format Article
id doaj-art-fa2c1830d5e4409b9ffb5f4f78555571
institution Kabale University
issn 1777-9006
2102-5878
language fra
publishDate 2019-10-01
publisher ADR Temporalités
record_format Article
series Temporalités
spelling doaj-art-fa2c1830d5e4409b9ffb5f4f785555712024-12-09T15:57:06ZfraADR TemporalitésTemporalités1777-90062102-58782019-10-012910.4000/temporalites.6202Nothingness and TimeTom BolandRay GriffinUnemployment is not just an economic category but is constituted by governmentality (Foucault, 2010), most evidently by the increase of interventions into the lives of the unemployed through Active Labour Market Policies (ALMP). Furthermore, the International Labour Organization (ILO) definition of unemployment as being without work, available for work and seeking work is a shifting classification which categorises unemployment on multiple temporal horizons, with the passive element of being without work increasingly superseded by the emphasis on seeking work. Through biographical interviews with unemployed in Ireland, spanning from 2012-2018, we trace this transformation of temporality empirically and conclude that governmentality constitutes multiple, contradictory, indefinite forms of time. Particularly, we offer an imaginative reading of two overlapping temporalities: Kairos, waiting, enduring, suffering nothingness in anticipation of transformation by getting a job, and Cronos, not cyclical time, but the devouring of time, where the days and leisure of the unemployed people are deliberately consumed by job-seeking. Ironically, states implement ALMPs in the kairotic hope of transforming their economy, yet these policies do little but make the experience of unemployment even harder to endure.https://journals.openedition.org/temporalites/6202temporalityKairosunemploymentgovernmentalityILOactivation
spellingShingle Tom Boland
Ray Griffin
Nothingness and Time
Temporalités
temporality
Kairos
unemployment
governmentality
ILO
activation
title Nothingness and Time
title_full Nothingness and Time
title_fullStr Nothingness and Time
title_full_unstemmed Nothingness and Time
title_short Nothingness and Time
title_sort nothingness and time
topic temporality
Kairos
unemployment
governmentality
ILO
activation
url https://journals.openedition.org/temporalites/6202
work_keys_str_mv AT tomboland nothingnessandtime
AT raygriffin nothingnessandtime