‘Work-Welfare'and the Regulation of the Poor: The Pessimism of Post-Structuralism

Through a concern with disciplinary power, post-structuralists have recently turned their attention to the discursive force of welfare in constituting the poor as docile and subservient populations. Far from representing a new and fruitful mode of radical analysis, it is argued that the idealism of the post-structuralist position produces a rigid determinism. Using the recent example of ‘work-welfare’ in Britain, the pessimism of this position is rejected by pointing to the continuing importance of resistance and opposition, while considering their wider significance for the analysis of welfare provision.