Des hommes malades du chômage ? Genre et (ré-)assignation identitaire au Royaume-Uni

In the early 2000s, nearly two million men – and less than one million women – were eligible for disability benefits in Britain. Initiated at the beginning of the 1980s, the Incapacity Benefit (IB) social welfare system perceived and treated these recipients as « disabled adults ». This continued up until the New Deal for Disabled People program was created in 2001. Within this new « Jobcentre Plus » system, Job Broking Services (JOBS), entirely devoted to help unemployed « disabled adults » find a job, were put in place. Based upon a qualitative survey carried out in Northern England in 2004, this article interrogates the identity shifts of men who very often became « ill » after having been made redundant. It focuses on the interactions between these IB beneficiaries who are encouraged to go back to work and their employment advisers who are supposed to assist them. What role does an administrative request – or demand – play in the construction or shift of social identity? The advisers invite the beneficiaries to describe their « dream job » all the while instructing them to be « realistic » in their search, thereby producing a « double bind ». Beneficiaries are more often than not offered very bad jobs, and at times voluntary work. The participants’ reactions to JOBS reveal negotiations of identity that depend on gender, age, professional background, and last but not least on the disability itself.