Beskæftigelsespolitik under forandring: En diskursteoretisk analyse af beskæftigelsespolitikken fra 1972 til 2011

Abstract

The idea that the government should be responsibility for social security and welfare prevailed in most European countries during the interwar period between WWI and WWII. The economic crisis following Wall Street’s 1929 stock market crash sent millions of people worldwide into unemployment and left a world community in depression. In response to this depression, various social security models emerged in Europe; although very different, all models strove to limit the effects of the crisis and ensure that a decent standard of living could be maintained. In Denmark, these initiatives were outlined in the social reform of 1933. This social reform radically changed the approach of social work and laid the foundation for the Danish welfare state. Today, the welfare state has become entrenched in Danish society. Political scientists have discussed how path dependency has shaped the Danish welfare state and the difficulties in changing it. Despite what seems like a broad political consensus on the Danish welfare state, the labour market policy, one of the major cornerstones of the welfare state has undergone great changes, without it has come to any major political fights. This master thesis examines the discourse change in Danish labor policy from the social reform in 1976 until 2011, when the new government was elected. With Norman Fairclough as a theoretical framework, this thesis examines the rationales and assumptions which shaped the labour policies of this period. Based on my discourse analysis of the Danish labour market policy, this thesis will discuss the implications that the changing labour market policy have upon the relationship between the government and its citizens. This thesis will show how the specific analysis of the Danish labour policy can be understood in a broader social perspective and how the labour market policy is an illustrative example for the changes in the relationship between the government and its citizens.