TY - JOUR

T1 - Language, employability and positioning in a Danish integration programme

AU - Lønsmann, Dorte

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - In many European countries, integration policies focus on getting refugeesquickly into the labour market. In order to accomplish this, refugees inDenmark are placed in work internships. Based on fieldwork in an integrationprogramme that combines mandatory Danish language classes with so-called“language internships”, where refugees do work internships for the purpose oflearning Danish at work, the present study takes a critical look at discourses andpositionings related to refugee access to the Danish labour market. The study findsclear evidence of an employability discourse which emphasises individual responsibility for employment while downplaying structural factors. Paradoxically,the employability discourse positions the refugees on the one hand as unemployablebecause of their lack of Danish language competence and hence asmarginalised and relatively powerless. On the other hand, in this same discourse,they are repeatedly positioned as agents responsible for creating their own opportunities, including employment opportunities, while the language internshipsare constructed as a means of gaining employment and being able to leave theunemployment system. By investigating acts of positioning by participants in theintegration programme and comparing them with discourses on language, workand integration in Denmark, the study concludes that despite intentions about theinternships leading to employment and thus empowerment, the language internshipslead to decapitalisation and marginalisation for the refugee participants.

AB - In many European countries, integration policies focus on getting refugeesquickly into the labour market. In order to accomplish this, refugees inDenmark are placed in work internships. Based on fieldwork in an integrationprogramme that combines mandatory Danish language classes with so-called“language internships”, where refugees do work internships for the purpose oflearning Danish at work, the present study takes a critical look at discourses andpositionings related to refugee access to the Danish labour market. The study findsclear evidence of an employability discourse which emphasises individual responsibility for employment while downplaying structural factors. Paradoxically,the employability discourse positions the refugees on the one hand as unemployablebecause of their lack of Danish language competence and hence asmarginalised and relatively powerless. On the other hand, in this same discourse,they are repeatedly positioned as agents responsible for creating their own opportunities, including employment opportunities, while the language internshipsare constructed as a means of gaining employment and being able to leave theunemployment system. By investigating acts of positioning by participants in theintegration programme and comparing them with discourses on language, workand integration in Denmark, the study concludes that despite intentions about theinternships leading to employment and thus empowerment, the language internshipslead to decapitalisation and marginalisation for the refugee participants.

U2 - 10.1515/ijsl-2020-2093

DO - 10.1515/ijsl-2020-2093

M3 - Journal article

VL - 264

SP - 49

EP - 71

JO - International Journal of the Sociology of Language

JF - International Journal of the Sociology of Language

SN - 0165-2516

ER -