How are activation programs for the young unemployed implemented? How do
grassroot-level bureaucrats deal with competing rationalities and
demands for action? Transition policies increasingly aim at promoting
self-regulation and constructing employable subjects. Stephan Dahmen
explores the practical regulation of biographical transitions in
activation programs for the young unemployed by focusing on the
interactive accomplishment of activation work. The study reveals how the
critical tensions of activation policies are continually re-interpreted
and adapted to local contingencies and describes the various
organisational technologies used for creating employable subjects.