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Medicalization of unemployment: individualizing social issues as personal problems in the Swedish welfare state

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  • Mikael Holmqvist

    (Stockholm University, Sweden, mih@fek.su.se)

Abstract

This article reports qualitative data on how the Swedish Public Employment Service classifies unemployed individuals as ‘occupationally disabled’ in order to transfer them to various labour market programmes.The article draws on a framework of medicalization, arguing that the individualization of the social issue of unemployment into a personal trouble of disability is a neglected yet important phenomenon that has interesting implications for theory and policy. By classifying some people as disabled in order to explain their unemployment, medicalization can be seen as an important yet so far neglected mechanism in understanding how this individualizing enterprise comes about. It is concluded that by medicalizing unemployment, the target for society’s intervention to fight the spectre of unemployment is primarily individuals’ personal troubles rather than any social issues.

Suggested Citation

  • Mikael Holmqvist, 2009. "Medicalization of unemployment: individualizing social issues as personal problems in the Swedish welfare state," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 23(3), pages 405-421, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:23:y:2009:i:3:p:405-421
    DOI: 10.1177/0950017009337063
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christina Beatty & Stephen Fothergill, 2002. "Hidden Unemployment Among Men: A Case Study," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(8), pages 811-823.
    2. de Mooij, Ruud A., 1999. "Disability Benefits and Hidden Unemployment in The Netherlands," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 695-713, November.
    3. Stephen Fothergill, 2001. "The True Scale of the Regional Problem in the UK," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(3), pages 241-246.
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