Myth and ceremony in workfare: rights, contracts, and client satisfaction

Throughout Western Europe, the ideology of workfare has been adopted for the “workless.” Social citizenship has been changed from status to contract. The change is justified in terms of “contracts of inclusion” between welfare agencies and recipients. Recipients are empowered and have “rights” to work or training and obligations to participate. Contracts of inclusion, however, necessarily exclude. The paper examines the concepts of rights, contracts, and client satisfaction in terms of the U.S. workfare experience. The evidence so far from Europe indicates similar problems in administering workfare for the most vulnerable. I conclude that the administrative failure is an additional reason to support a basic income guarantee. By providing an exit option, the worker-client relationship changes from vertical to horizontal.