Totalverweigerer: Viel Lärm um Nichts?

Abstract

"The study examines origin and meaning of the term ‘Totalverweigerer’ (entirely non-compliant benefit recipient); the term was used for recipients of basic income support who repeatedly refuse to take up a job. Our study takes a look at indications from administrative data, which imply that basic income support recipients who repeatedly refuse jobs as defined by Article 31a Paragraph 7 Social Code II are rarely observed. Against this background, we discuss the relevance of the ‘Totalverweigerer ’ both in the media and the work of job centres. The results of the study are presented next. We first introduce the discourse on basic income support, which developed from partly scandalizing “poor people” via representation in terms of the `Hartzer’-character, towards a view of basic income support recipients whose life time achievements were recognized (‘citizen’s benefit’) back to recovering again the `Hartzer’ through the new label `Totalverweigerer’. To study this, we discuss the development of the citizen’s benefit and how different voices (of politicians) engaged in constructing the `Totalverweigerer’. This becomes for example visible, when basic values of respect and the appreciation of lifetime achievements as important aspects related to the introduction of the citizen’s benefit lose their relevance in the public discourse that turns to generalising statements on “lazy” benefit recipients. The story about the relevance of the `Totalveweigerer‘ is then completed by a second empirical analysis. It shows that the `Totalverweigerer‘ as defined by Article 31a Paragraph 7 Social Code II is absent in the studied job centres. However, the analysis shows that the concept of benefit recipients who do not comply with benefit rules can be quite relevant for the dialogue between caseworkers and welfare benefit recipients during their meetings. Statements of caseworkers in such meetings imply that a less narrowly defined character of the `Totalverweigerer’ is present in and relevant for their work as a kind of template for basic income support recipients that case workers regard as non-cooperative, hard-headed or divergent. The `Totalverweigerer’ is relevant to justify the application of benefit sanctions and to legitimize the existence of benefit sanctions. This explains the contradiction that the `Totalverweigerer’ as defined by the Social Code II is absent in the daily work of the job centres while a less narrowly defined `Totalverweigerer’is present in their daily counselling discourse as a contrast to the notion of welfare benefit recipients who comply with the benefit rules." (text excerpt, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Bella, N., Röhrer, S. & Wolff, J. (2025): Totalverweigerer: Viel Lärm um Nichts? (IAB-Forschungsbericht 20/2025), Nürnberg, 35 p. DOI:10.48720/IAB.FB.2520