Word! The Language Column
Obsessed with performance

Why are some political parties in Germany and Austria so obsessed with the concept of performance? What is the thinking behind their platitudes? Elias Hirschl takes a close look at passages from the parties’ manifestos. And he rounds it all off with the idea of a better world.

By Elias Hirschl

Performance! Performance! And performance again! That seems to be the most important thing for many political parties in Germany and Austria. Reading through the various manifestos, you can’t tell the difference at first glance. Every single party is in favour of making performance pay again. That sounds good at first. But behind the smooth language there are striking differences. Today I want to take a quick look at the parties’ language to get to the bottom of this strange performance fetish.

No help for all

The CDU (Christian Democrats in Germany) probably formulates it most directly. Their principles are: “Those who can work should work” or “Support and demand”. The Österreichische Volkspartei ÖVP (Austrian People’s Party; conservatives) shares this or something similar, proclaiming: “Earning comes before distributing” or “Those who cannot or can no longer perform are entitled to help from the community of solidarity”.  Here, the social assistance to which everyone is actually entitled is linked to a kind of performance requirement. Only those who have tried to help themselves first can expect help.

Just don’t fall down

Imagine what it would look like if you followed these principles in your everyday life. For example, if an old woman falls down in the street in front of you, don’t just help her up. First ask her if she really can’t get up. Ask her if she has a doctor’s note saying she cannot get up. Ask if she has tried to get up before. Don’t help her up, but think about a long-term solution to prevent old women from falling in the future. Preventing old women from falling should take precedence over ad hoc attempts to help them up. These only help old women in the short term and give an unrealistic picture of a world in which old women receive direct help.  

Double standards

This may sound exaggerated until you read that the FDP (Free Democratic Party of Germany / liberals) believes that one of the biggest problems in the labour market is that the unemployed are “weaned off work”. The FDP then euphemise the agonising hurdles that the unemployed have to overcome as an “encouraging welfare state” or “labour market instruments limited to certain target groups”. The Austrian NEOS (Austrian Liberal Party) seems to have a similar view when it talks about degressive organisation. Specifically, this refers to unemployment benefits that decrease over time – and this is what they hope to achieve: “The signal of decreasing unemployment benefits motivates people to take a job quickly.” The AfD (right-wing populist party in Germany) has a similar proposal with its activating basic income support. Such complaints about unearned income seem particularly absurd when compared with the German Green Party’s manifesto, which also refers to “unearned income” – although this correctly refers to income from the vast wealth of the rich and super-rich.

The AfD also describes gender quotas as anti-welfare, focuses heavily on families with children and sees EU laws on free movement as a major source of “abuse of the generous German welfare system”. The FPÖ (right-wing populist party in Austria) supposedly does not want to promote “multi-class medicine”, but is in favour of establishing a separate social security system for “foreigners”. Both parties like to hide the fact that immigrants in Austria and Germany pay significantly more into the social security system than they receive in benefits, although this should obviously not be a prerequisite for treating people with dignity.

Flexible and casual – in a business video

A music video released by the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO) in 2018 probably sums up the neoliberal idea of performance best. A singing voice, which sounds like it belongs to a Wanda cover band that has been washed too hot, explains why the newly introduced flexible 12-hour working day is super casual for employees. To this end, enthusiastic cartoon characters dance through a pop-art miniature children’s TV town, and a sceptical pug occasionally asks whether the 12-hour day is really such a good idea. Spoiler: Yes. (The song is no longer officially available from the WKO on Youtube, but thanks to Youtube user MrBrenigan there is a suitable reupload in a 12-hour version).

That’s how it works – even better

What all these positions have in common is a complete misunderstanding of how people work. Humans have always had an innate urge to create and be productive. Some of the most important cultural achievements were born not out of a desire to achieve, but out of sheer boredom. People had enough time and no existential worries. Financial and social security does not make people lazy! And even if they did, what’s the problem?

What we should be working towards as a society is a world where people have to work as little as possible and can spend as much time as possible on fun activities, completely unnecessary projects and with family and friends. Anyone who thinks that working hours should be increased rather than reduced is lacking in both humanity and imagination.