"Within the system of debt, the individualization of Welfare State policies
is no longer solely disciplinary, since it entails a detailed analysis of the ability
to "repay," which is repeatedly assessed on an individual basis. It always
implies a "moral" evaluation of the individual's actions and modes of
life. Repayment will be made not in money but through the debtor's constant efforts
to maximize his employability, to take a proactive role in his integration into
the work or social environment, to be available and flexible on the job market.
Debt repayment is part of a standardization of behavior that requires conformity
to the life norms dictated by the institution. This "subjective" relation
between the public sector worker and the public assistance recipient, rather than
moving beyond fetishism by reestablishing the "relation of man to man"
spoken of by Marx, reveals itself instead as the source and height of the cynicism
and hypocrisy of our "financialized" society. Continuous cynicism and
hypocrisy not only in relations between bankers and customers, but also in relations
between the State and the users of social services. In the same way as credit turns
trust into distrust, the Welfare State suspects all users, and especially the poorest,
of being cheats, of living at society's expense by taking advantage of public assistance
instead of working. Under the conditions of ubiquitous distrust created by neoliberal
policies, hypocrisy and cynicism now form the content of social relations."
Maurizio Lazzarato, The Making of Indebted Man
