‘You Need to be Healthy to be Ill’: Constructing Sickness and Framing the Body in Swedish Healthcare

Abstract

Recent trends have seen a move from ‘welfare’ to ‘workfare’ in Europe to increase labour flexibility and reduce state expenditure on sickness absence. This shift in healthcare logics has meant an increasing role for individuals to take an active part in the political process of managing their health and sickness absence. This paper draws upon empirical cases of observations of status meetings, in which the employee’s medical situation and work capacity are evaluated, as well as interviews with participating actors. The study finds that governmental standards are, at times, incompatible with each other and this complexity allows for local strategies in managing the sickness absence process. These findings are discussed in relation to employment and it is concluded that local actors’ translations of policies have important material consequences for employees’ health, rehabilitation opportunities and access to sickness benefits. This contributes to our understanding of how political interventions to govern the population are appropriated locally to govern individual bodies.