This thesis attempts to address a new distinction between social enterprises that have mainly emerged from civil society research and logics and moving towards a more American inspired approach anchored in neoliberal welfare state goals and logics. Research so far within the field of WISEs (work integration social enterprises) has traditionally been focusing on the legitimate unemployed, such as the sick and disabled, and how these can be offered a dignified way of living by providing them with a meaningful work – this is characterized as work offers. This thesis addresses the social enterprises, that can be characterized as work injunctions, which the illegitimate unemployed are referred to by their public caseworker. These social enterprises work as extensions of the municipal attempts to bring down unemployment and therefore adopt goals and governance mechanisms from the municipal field.
The work injunctions therefore must have a different social practice than the traditional social enterprises.
The thesis is based on a single case study of a social enterprise under a private non- profit organization in a medium size municipality in Denmark. The data has been gathered through thorough fieldwork with observations, participation and follow-up interviews with the management and personal in the organization. The thesis con- tains a frame analysis of this enterprise to provide a foundation for understanding these in a welfare societal context. It also seeks to illuminate the possibilities for these to act as a stepping stone into employment for poorly qualified people.
Based on the analysis, I find that social enterprises as welfare agents for work injunc- tions mainly work as municipal governance and do not provide a foundation on which the clients can become part of the ordinary work force. However, these social enterprises do have latent potential to make the course of activation similar to ordinary work and therefore provide competencies useful for the labor market in the municipality.