Introduction

Workfare is a normatively charged topic, in an elusive way. As it refers to conditioning public support on the performance of sub-par employment (Wacquant, 2011), workfare is hidden in the bottom rungs of social policy, applying only to a (relatively) small number of welfare dependencies, and only for a fixed time. It is thus tempting to dismiss it, and focus on social policies that affect a wider range of people, for extended periods. But that is a mistake, for two related reasons. First, because the normative aspects of workfare radiate out to other areas of social policy; and second, because gaining a better understanding of the values that underlie workfare, and society's true approach to them, advances public discourse of these fundamental concepts.

This chapter analyses four persistent legal and philosophical issues that imbue workfare, albeit usually not explicitly. These are: forced labour; the uniqueness of enforcing work requirements; reciprocity; and a basic income guarantee. Each of these themes has a life of its own (hence the approach: each theme's relation to workfare has implications in other realms) but ‘meets’ workfare at different junctures. Forced labour is an extremely charged matter, often discussed in tandem with slavery. Associating workfare with forced labour is part of the arsenal of those most critical of the policy. Reciprocity sits on the other edge of the normative plane, as it is currently one of the most consensual moral platforms on both sides of the political spectrum. Resting workfare securely on the model of reciprocity would offer it an air of legitimacy that few other social policies enjoy. By tackling the unique issue of work (as opposed to any other) conditions, on the one hand; and, on the other hand, of basic income as the paradigm example of no conditions on public support, the analysis focuses on the concrete consequences of conditioning support in general, and on work in particular. Brought together, the four themes help explain the particular ideological, political and legal place that workfare inhabits, and offers a better understanding of its foundations and implications.