Experiencing Social Exclusion and Distrust: Mental Health Rehabilitees Struggling With Digital Administrative Burdens

Abstract

The digital welfare state has been transforming into a type of state structure in which the citizen no longer faces the official in person, but interaction instead occurs with system‐level bureaucracy, and decision‐making takes place in an algorithmic system's frame. This article aimed to determine what kind of burden digital self‐service and algorithmic decision‐making poses to people with mental health problems. The article contributes to the social sustainability literature by introducing the concept of digital administrative burden and how it can create social exclusion and distrust in public administration among vulnerable citizens. Drawing on social representation theory and the concept of social identity, we examine how the digital administrative burden faced by mental health rehabilitees affects their identity and self‐perception. The data gathered comprises audio‐recorded group discussions with mental health rehabilitees. Based on the data, it can be demonstrated that digital citizen–state encounters create subject positions for mental health rehabilitees that portray them as dispossessed, unreliable, insignificant, and inferior. The positioning of mental health rehabilitees highlights how administrative burdens in digital citizen–state encounters contribute to social exclusion, preventing the full realisation of their citizenship. It can be stated that digital burdens imposed by automated administration on those dependent on social benefits can endanger society's social sustainability. This is particularly irritating because the welfare state's capability and commitment to social sustainability are crucial in preventing development of inequality and polarisation between different population groups.