“Reducing” Actor's Rationality : Why Go off the RMI

“Reducing” Actor's Rationality : Why Go off the RMI

The “inactivity trap” model is based on a “narrow rationality” postulate according to which recipients of the RMI “decide” not to work because the wages they may expect to earn are lower than the welfare payments they receive. By this postulate, the other essential factor in an individual’s non-e...

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Auteurs principaux: Dubet, François, Vérétout, Antoine
Format: Article ou chapitre numérique
Langue:Français
Publié: 2003
Accès en ligne:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
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spelling cairn-RFS_445_0079RFS1Revue française de sociologie https://shs.cairn.info/revue-francaise-de-sociologie-1-2003-5-page-79?lang=en https://doi.org/10.3917/rfs.445.0079 “Reducing” Actor's Rationality : Why Go off the RMI Dubet, FrançoisVérétout, Antoine2003 fre Revue française de sociologie | 44 | 5 | 2003-12-15 | p. 79-108 | 0035-2969 RFS_44585 The “inactivity trap” model is based on a “narrow rationality” postulate according to which recipients of the RMI “decide” not to work because the wages they may expect to earn are lower than the welfare payments they receive. By this postulate, the other essential factor in an individual’s non-employment is his or her length of time on welfare programs (“seniority”). Our analysis of 20,000 RMI recipient files shows that the explanatory value of this model is relatively weak, namely when it comes to what is assumed to be the disincentive effect of receiving the RMI. It also shows that it is inadequate to reason entirely in terms of employment; the content of available work must also be taken into account. It is therefore necessary to abandon the narrow rationality model in favor of a model of contextualized rationality, the “good reasons” model, as it may be observed in 128 interviews with RMI recipients. On the other hand, because the interviews point up so many different and sometimes contradictory “good reasons”, we may in turn question the relevance and usefulness of this model, which in fact interprets behavior rather than explaining it.Cairn free access
language Français
format Article ou chapitre numérique
building 0/Bibliothèque numérique/
1/Bibliothèque numérique/Cairn/
description The “inactivity trap” model is based on a “narrow rationality” postulate according to which recipients of the RMI “decide” not to work because the wages they may expect to earn are lower than the welfare payments they receive. By this postulate, the other essential factor in an individual’s non-employment is his or her length of time on welfare programs (“seniority”). Our analysis of 20,000 RMI recipient files shows that the explanatory value of this model is relatively weak, namely when it comes to what is assumed to be the disincentive effect of receiving the RMI. It also shows that it is inadequate to reason entirely in terms of employment; the content of available work must also be taken into account. It is therefore necessary to abandon the narrow rationality model in favor of a model of contextualized rationality, the “good reasons” model, as it may be observed in 128 interviews with RMI recipients. On the other hand, because the interviews point up so many different and sometimes contradictory “good reasons”, we may in turn question the relevance and usefulness of this model, which in fact interprets behavior rather than explaining it.
author Dubet, François
Vérétout, Antoine
spellingShingle Dubet, François
Vérétout, Antoine
“Reducing” Actor's Rationality : Why Go off the RMI
author_facet Dubet, François
Vérétout, Antoine
author_sort Dubet, François
title “Reducing” Actor's Rationality : Why Go off the RMI
title_short “Reducing” Actor's Rationality : Why Go off the RMI
title_full “Reducing” Actor's Rationality : Why Go off the RMI
title_fullStr “Reducing” Actor's Rationality : Why Go off the RMI
title_full_unstemmed “Reducing” Actor's Rationality : Why Go off the RMI
title_sort “reducing” actor's rationality : why go off the rmi
publishDate 2003
container_title
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url https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://shs.cairn.info/revue-francaise-de-sociologie-1-2003-5-page-79?lang=en
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.3917/rfs.445.0079
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