Health risks, social relations and class

An analysis of occupational health discourse in Finnish newspaper and women's magazine articles 1961-2008

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2249078
AutoresPekka Varje (0000-0002-7554-0621, Centre of Expertise for Development of Work and Organizations Finnish Institute of Occupational Health Helsinki Finland, autor de correspondencia), Ari Vaananen (0000-0003-1107-5799, Centre of Expertise for Development of Work and Organizations Finnish Institute of Occupational Health Helsinki Finland)
Año2016
Volumen38
Número3
Páginas493-510
Fecha de publicación2016-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSociology of Health & Illness (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0141-9889 • E-ISSN: 1467-9566
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1467-9566.12376
PMID26547280
OpenAlexW2167596120
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas39

In this article we examine the treatment of psychosocial risks in public occupational health discourse in Finnish newspaper and magazine articles between the 1960s and 2000s, using discourse analysis. Building on class theories, our aim is to investigate how class expectations have been linked with the redefinition of occupational health risks during this period. Our results suggest that as social relations at the workplace became problematised in the occupational health discussions after the 1970s, the image of the hierarchical and naturally conflictual organisation was replaced by idealised middle-class notions of smoothly functioning, harmonious organisations that offered rewarding work experiences. However, this same period since the late 1970s has also been characterised by increasing economic competition and neoliberal market ideology. We conclude that the concern about work-related psychosocial risks and health problems expressed in Finnish newspaper and magazine articles during the last three decades has been shaped in many respects by a collision between the dominant middle-class expectations of harmony and equality and the neoliberal production of competition and inequality

Critical discourse analysis · Discourse analysis · Ideology · Inequality · Media studies · Middle class · Newspaper · Occupational safety and health · Political science · Politics · Psychosocial · Public health · Social class · Social inequality · Sociology · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Gender Studies · Management and Organizational Studies · Medicine · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics