Families receiving basic assistance in Germany. Interaction effects between relationships and institutional contexts in "poor families"
Final Report Abstract
The explorative research project investigated the consequences of receiving basic income benefits for everyday family life. For this purpose, a qualitative case-reconstructive study on families in the German basic income support system (“Grundsicherung für Arbeitssuchende”) was conducted. The research is based on i) family biographical interviews with couple families and single parents receiving unemployment benefit II benefits for at least two years, and raising children of school age, and ii) expert interviews with Jobcentre staff. Grounded theory and objective hermeneutics were used to analyse the interview data. The analyses of expert interviews revealed ambivalent dynamics of institutional family constructions within the German basic income support system: Employment support for parents with children age of three or older, is characterised by discretionary leeway on the one hand and a (legal and organisational) limited perception of family life-worlds on the other. Moral judgements and selective assessments of family circumstances by case managers and a (partially reflected) lack of knowledge about deeper family problems of their clients’ family have potentially ambivalent consequences for the interventions. This finding has to be seen against the background of overall complex family biographies, shaped typically by multiple crises in working and family life (e.g. illnesses, separation). The family case reconstructions showed how families filter and process the dependence on SGB II rules and job obligations internally in multiple ways: Variable integrative strategies of establishing or maintaining family values and shared orientations in couple and parent-child-relationships were typified. In addition, it was shown how typical family perspectives come into play when dealing with the Jobcentre. "Anonymous and immunising", "personcentred" or "strategic" views on institutions structure the exchange with Jobcentre staff and thereby create different degrees of freedom in family life against external guidelines and obligations. Finally, initial findings show how and under what circumstances family action orientations and family values/self-conceptions are mediated or directly influenced by institutional regulations. In particular, non-intended consequences of Jobcentre interventions and supporting or challenging effects in phases of biographical openness and at the beginning of basic income benefit receipt were emphasised. Overall, the findings provide conceptual starting points for a systematic analysis of the varying interaction effects between family structures and minimum income systems, which can be realised in larger-scale and cross-country comparative empirical studies.
Publications
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Families Receiving Basic Income Support in Germany. Relationship Structures, Institutional Contexts and Adaptive Strategies in “Poor Families”. Paper to be presented at 21st ESPAnet Annual Conference 07.-09.09.2023, Warsaw
Gräfe, Christian
