Health risks, social relations and class

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

Dados 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 correspondente), Ari Vaananen (0000-0003-1107-5799, Centre of Expertise for Development of Work and Organizations Finnish Institute of Occupational Health Helsinki Finland)
Ano2016
Volume38
Fascículo3
Páginas493-510
Data de publicação2016-03-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoSociology of Health & Illness (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0141-9889 • E-ISSN: 1467-9566
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1467-9566.12376
PMID26547280
OpenAlexW2167596120
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências 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