Kritička analiza diskursa o fleksibilizaciji tržišta rada
Authors:   , Trbušić Helena 
Published: January 2022

The research is focused on the study of public discourse on labor market flexibilization in Croatia during the reform of the Croatian Labor Act which was undertaken by the Croatian government during 2013 and 2014. Labor market flexibilization and labor market deregulation are questions of great interest when it comes to the developments in contemporary Croatian society. Since the 1970s, mass Fordist industrial production had mostly been replaced by flexible production accompanied by flexible forms of labor, and labor market flexibilization and deregulation. During the transition period towards market economy in Croatia, pronounced demands for labor market flexibilization have been vocalized, expressing the need to create market conditions that would allow for the standardization of flexible forms of labor in Croatia. The mentioned demands articulated in the public space have been accompanied by various opposing discourses which express concerns over the consequences of labor market flexibilization. The thesis deals with the application of critical discourse analysis to the material of daily newspapers in order to explore the ideological aspects of flexibilization and deregulation of the labor market in Croatia. The exploration of ideological aspects implies the discovery of a combination of discourses, with special attention given to neoliberal discourse as the linguistic manifestation of neoliberal ideology of global capitalism. The first part of the dissertation is concerned with describing critical discourse analysis; its origins, historical development, characteristics, founding researchers and their scientific views and propositions regarding the different ways in which research can be conducted relying on the basic premises of CDA. Critical discourse analysis focuses on choosing an actual social issue which is in some way deemed to be problematic in its involvement in the social distribution of power. To be able to activate its potential of social involvement, and to a certain extent its potential of social engagement, critical discourse analysis strives to achieve the ability to facilitate a more just distribution of power in a given society. Because critical discourse analysis not only allows, but encourages the adaptation of a certain research „angle“ which by the researcher is determined to be best suited for describing the chosen social issue, it is the methodology of choice for this particular research problem dealing with the flexibilization of the Croatian labor market. This research relies on Norman Fairclough's conception of critical discourse analysis which implies a three-dimensional model emphasizing the importance of contextual analysis of text, adding analysis of discursive practices or analysis of interdiscursivity and analysis of social practices, to the analysis of texts. The second part of the dissertation involves the description of neoliberalism as a concept, a historical process accompanying globalization, a doctrine, an ideology; the description of neoliberal identity as well as neoliberal discourse. Neoliberalism, whichever way we wish to describe it, is a complex phenomenon, but most theoretical perspectives and schools dealing with trying to describe it, do so from a critical perspective, basically relying on the same theoretical sources and researchers. Therefore, the literature on which this research relies is used more or less indiscriminately of its origin and particular theoretical background or orientation. Useful distinctions used in the dissertation are those between neoliberalism and other liberal schools of thought, neoliberal identity, and the identity of the Keynesian welfare state, as well as the distinction between transparent and euphemized neoliberal discourse. Neoliberalism is also featured as a doctrine with a special perspective on labor market policies, forming unique views regarding organized labor as a kind of monopoly and workers or labor force as human capital and providers on the market. The third part deals with the analysis of the material which is compartmentalized into three different sections approximately approaching Fairclough's three-dimensional model of critical discourse analysis, or textual analysis, analysis of discursive practices and analysis of social practices. Textual analysis was done as thematic analysis which produced a series of most common themes found in the analyzed material representing the public discourse on labor market flexibilization. The themes discovered ranged from more general issues connected to labor market reform such as foreign investments, reforms in line with the agenda of austerity, tripartite dialogue and collective bargaining, collective action taken by the unions, and various forms of criticism of the undertaken labor market reform from various perspectives. More particular themes included demand for developing and expanding numerical flexibility, in particular wage flexibility, hiring and firing policies, severance pay, and work time flexibility. These demands were proposed by the representatives of employers and foreign investors as well as the government. The opposition to these demands came predominantly from unions who used strike as bargaining leverage. The second dimension of discursive analysis pertained to the analysis of discursive practices and interdiscursivity of the public discourse. The analysis yielded several types of arguments which according to their characteristics and orientation regarding a specific type of labor market flexibility, can be positioned in the extended domains of either neoliberal discourse or discourse of the welfare state. The arguments which pointed to a certain kind of attitude towards flexibility could not always be neatly demarcated along the lines of neoliberal versus Keynesian, which pointed towards a public discourse shaped as a continuum consisting of transparent neoliberal discourse, euphemized neoliberal discourse, discourse of social partnership and discourse of the welfare state. It was established that regarding the analyzed material in terms of theme visibility and the public space allotted to the proponents of arguments at the neoliberal end of the continuum, neoliberal discourse dominated the public discourse on labor market flexibility. The part pertaining to the analysis of public policy focused on changes implemented in the Labor Act with special attention given to changes which were proposed by various interested actors in public discourse. The analysis also consisted of a review of data on labor market trends provided by the Croatian Employment Service, Eurostat, and the Ministry of Labor and Pension System. The indicators of labor market flexibility provided by these sources point to a substantial influence of the labor market reform on labor market flexibility in Croatia.