The control card

"Trust is good, control is better" - this phrase seems to have guided the proposal by the Conference of Minister Presidents to introduce a "payment card" for refugees. People who are in the asylum application process or have tolerated status are to use this card to receive state social benefits this year. However, it is not an account card from which cash can be withdrawn, but a credit balance that can be used to pay for purchases. Sounds practical? The idea behind it is to tie up refugees' social benefits for everyday consumption instead of giving them the opportunity to use their cash for whatever they deem necessary. Consideration is even being given to limiting the redemption options to certain sectors or product groups, for example.

Let's imagine that we all received part of our salary or social benefits in the form of a credit. And what's more: purchasing options would be restricted to presumably healthy or sustainable consumption. There would be a huge outcry. Trust is good, control is better? Is the saying true? Hasn't it long since fallen out of time? A time that, on the one hand, is characterized by increasing degrees of freedom in the decisions of the individual and, on the other hand, thrives on this increased freedom in order to make the crisis-prone nature and plurality of life courses manageable and livable? Or should this only apply to nationals?

What was the Prime Ministers' Conference thinking when it decided not to pay out the 410 euros that a single person is entitled to in secondary accommodation under the Asylum Seekers Act in cash, or to a large extent no longer in cash? One advantage of the payment card is seen in reducing the administrative burden on local authorities, preventing the possibility of transferring money from state support to the countries of origin and thus combating the inhumane crime of people smuggling.

However, the measure is a signal of mistrust, and it feeds the stigmatization of asylum seekers as refugees of affluence who could also transfer money to their country of origin from the already insufficient amounts. And FDP Finance Minister Lindner openly stated that this was also about reducing the incentives for irregular migration. The payment card is therefore also proving to be a deterrent card.

There have long been findings that point to the importance of trust and freedom for community ties and active involvement in the community. It is not only psychology and socialization research that confirm this effect; the sociology of work has also been aware of the productivity-enhancing results of trusting freedom for employees since the 1930s. But you don't have to look that far, common sense will tell you: if you are given trust and recognition, in most cases you will develop the impulse to give back what you have experienced.

To name just two examples: Our research on schools with the "School without Racism, School with Courage" seal shows a particularly succinct and successful case of reciprocity, which occurs naturally as if by itself when experience allows. The former underage refugee from Syria, whom the school helped to successfully complete his Abitur, now helps as an adult support teacher in German courses for refugees.

Or one of our Bachelor's graduates, who appeared at the colloquium in the jersey of his regional soccer team. "I wear it consciously, it's a thank you to my team and the wonderful people who simply let me play when I arrived in Dortmund as a minor in 2015. I learned German here, on the pitch as well as in the dressing room and doing my homework, I found joy here, I feel at home here. And here I want to give back what I was once given: Trust and commitment."

Ute Fischer(Opens in a new tab)