The political economy of unredeemable social debt
Superexploiting the labor and networks of refugees who aspire to “give back”
L. van der Veer ( Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, University of Cambridge, TU Delft - Urban Studies)
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Abstract
According to anthropological theories of the gift, recipients of social benefits such as refugees in Europe are engaged in relations of social debt. Here I argue that, within the framework of capitalist societies, concepts of social debt and repayment do not prove adequate in addressing social relations between powerful institutions and disempowered populations. This article demonstrates that existing studies of giving back in such relationships do not fully grasp the ambiguous and complex dynamics within neoliberal economies that grant rights to refugees such as social benefits while, as displaced people, also place their belonging to society under question mark. My argument is illustrated through the example of refugees who, having fled from Syria, are allocated a house in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Socially indebted, these permit holders “give back” by launching an “initiative” to help others, with the assumption that this will enable them to step out of their precarious and liminal position of social indebtedness and enter into the realm of sociality and exchange. However, this article shows that in a landscape of outsourced service provision, superexploited labor, and subcontracting arrangements, the social debts these permit holders allegedly collected do not get redeemed.
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