ABSTRACT
This contribution explores the periodicals published by initiatives for and by the unemployed in the cities of the deindustrialising Ruhr during the 1980s as a means of mediation. Analysing these periodicals gives insight into how unemployed authors understood themselves and their own situation, thus complementing what was written about unemployed people at the time in other sources, such as the media or social science surveys. Despite their plight, the authors of the initiatives’ periodicals appear to have been a self-aware and, above all, self-confident group of actors who developed their own perspective on the experience of being unemployed. They addressed the pressure on gender roles, discussed alternatives to unemployment, and reflected on feelings of shame and guilt. Most remarkably, the authors actively intervened in local political debates, presenting the view of unemployed people on the transformation of the Ruhr into a post-industrial agglomeration. Exploring how the initiatives’ periodicals framed and mediated the experience of being unemployed can thus contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the deep-seated effects of deindustrialisation beyond simple declensionist narratives.
