This dissertation considers how and why the labour market disadvantage of disabled people persists. Unpacking debates about how disabled people and labour market disadvantage can be conceptualised it reviews how theoretical insights from labour economics and sociology/disability studies can enrich a social model of disability. Drawing on the concepts of social claims and capabilities, the main task becomes one of exploring how a range of social actors and institutions are involved in enabling or constraining the capabilities that may facilitate the economic functioning of disabled people. Having noted the diversity embodied in the social category disabled people the emphasis is on capturing at least some of this diversity. This is done by exploring the experiences of people in the communities in which they live their everyday lives within the changing context of the labour market and public policy. The research uses an empirical base of material drawn from two localities in East London and Greater Manchester. It is interview based developing case studies at a number of levels: employed and non-employed disabled people, local employment projects and support services and public and private sector employers. Issues around the benefit system, and economic security, emerge as particularly prominent in the lives of the non-employed. Via an exploration of policy and practice, the quality of and balance between supply and demand-side policies that are ostensibly geared towards moderating the incidence and experience of labour market disadvantage are questioned. In so doing, there is criticism of the accounting framework that underpins capitalist employment relations and public policy . In concludes that both the supply and demand sides of the labour market are of fundamental importance in nourishing capabilities. There is a need to develop a policy framework that has a focus on how capabilities can be enabled with more pro-active measures to acknowledge and address inequalities of circumstance and the desire of disabled people to participate.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:604719 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Hudson, M. H. |
| Publisher | University of Cambridge |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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