The Access of Disabled Persons on the Romanian Labour Market: An Institutional Ethnography of the Role of Social Welfare

Abstract

Using a qualitative approach based on an institutional ethnography of social organization of work inclusion for disabled persons, the current paper addresses the specific ways in which the individual experiences of the Romanian disabled persons, in society and on the labour market, are influenced and shaped by the social relations of textually mediated discourse. It draws on the results of a larger study, conducted between 2014 and 2015 in Romania, as part of a research project focusing the dysfunctionalities that impede the labour market access of disabled persons in Romania and the institutional arrangements and structural mechanisms that underpin these dysfunctionalities. The paper reveals a particular type of consonance between the Romanian legislative provisions, institutional arrangements and local practices, that allows for the concept of ‘protection’ of the disabled persons to transcend its initial purpose and philosophy and start working against the disabled persons. The article also shades some light on the way in which the current Romanian welfare arrangements contribute to keeping the disabled persons outside the labour market, by categorizing them as 'vulnerable persons' and thus justifying their exclusion from employment.

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Author Information
Elena-Loreni Baciu, West University of Timisoara, Romania
Teodor Mircea Alexiu, West University of Timisoara, Romania
Theofild Andrei Lazar, West University of Timisoara, Romania
Johans Sandvin Tveit, North University, Norway
Ingrid Fylling, North University, Norway

• Category: ECSS2016, Oral Presentation, Paper Available
• Tag: Education and Social Welfare,

Posted by James Alexander Gordon

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