Abstract (eng)
This master thesis focuses on conceptions and experiences of injustice in the context of long-term unemployment and starts from the assumption that injustice can be experienced in all dimensions of life arrangements. Taking on a social constructivist methodological position, justice is understood as a contested, normative concept that serves as a legitimising basis for formulating entitlements. I suggest that injustice conceptions can be reconstructed based on narrations about subjectively experienced grievances in every-day-life. Building on theory of recognition and a gender-sociological perspective on (in)justice, the interpretative analysis of five single cases reveals which dimensions of life become relevant for justice claims and which not, despite severely experienced grievances. By applying an analytical distinction between claims and wishes, it becomes visible which justice principles are used as a normative frame of references for claiming injustice. At the same time, this differentiated perspective reveals in which dimensions of life, a normative framework is missing, and grievances are therefore framed as wishes. Narrative interviews with long-term unemployed persons living in Austria and Sweden form the empirical basis of this thesis. Applying the hermeneutical interpretation technique of the ”fine-structure-analysis“ enabled theoretical generalisations about injustice conceptions to be made. Based on five in-depth single case reconstructions, different dimensions of experienced grievances in long-term unemployment are explored. The interpretative analysis showed that injustice experiences in long-term unemployment are mainly characterised by violations against various justice principles, such as the idea of humanitarian equality, legitimate social hierarchies, expectations of recognition, and the right to autonomy. Moreover, the perspective on life arrangements revealed that while public dimensions of life, such as employment, serve as a normative frame to express claims to justice, grievances in supposedly private life dimensions, such as health, are not perceived as injustice. Especially grievances regarding mental or physical well-being are expressed as wishes instead of entitlements due to the lack of a normative framework to claim a right to self-care. However, the interpretative analysis also showed that structural ascriptions of individual responsibility for precarious living situations make it more challenging to identify and denounce injustice. In summary, the findings suggest that injustice conceptions and experiences are significantly shaped by prevailing power structures of institutions and organisations, which offer or renounce normative patterns to express criticism about personally experienced grievances in long-term unemployment.