Kampen för människovärdet : om identitet i ett föränderligt arbetsliv

Abstract

This thesis examines the construction of individual identity at work, and the psychological meaning of this effort, during times of great work-life changeability. I ask whether the increased incidence of work-related psychic sickness over the past decade can be understood to be related to the consequences for identity construction that have followed from this changeability. The study is part of the MOA research project (Modern Work and Living Conditions for Women and Men: Development of Methods for Epidemiological Studies (Härenstam et al., 2004)).

A theoretical perspective is presented in which identity is defined in relation to fundamental moral values. This relationship is constructed when actions are explained and the explanation is made within a narrative context. Identity is something that happens and must be studied as such. The title of the thesis refers to the repeated identity work the individual must undertake when confronted with a changeable context, in order to re-establish a consistent and congruent selfnarrative. This theoretical perspective offers guidance for the analysis of the empirical material.

The study is qualitative and uses narrative analysis methods. Two case studies from two different organizations are presented. The data material consists of open-ended interviews with workers and representatives of the organizations, together with written material about the organizations. Data were collected on two occasions in a period of 7 years; during this period, both organizations were undergoing considerable and, for the branches studied, typical change.

In case study 1, The Factory, the analysis indicates that the identity-work took place within the conflict between a traditional narrative based on collective norms and values, and a new narrative about an individually responsible co-operator in the organization. The new organization has a strictly functional definition that leaves no room for an identity based on collective values: the individual is left alone to construct his/her identity-shaping narrative.

Case-study 2, The Healthcare, a hospital ward, investigates the tense relationship between a shared idea about caring work as part of a collective endeavour, in which the moral value of dignity can be achieved, and an organization that appears to make this value unachievable. Identity-work is concentrated around the organizational borders between the different groups in the organization, when it is confronted with organizational change. Threatened values and the ambitions necessary for forming the new identity seem to give rise to intense affects. The ideas on which new organizational models are based are in conflict with traditional narratives about specific collectives.

In the last section the observations are discussed in relation to the individualization of work. Collective institutions are vanishing and are being replaced by individual responsibilities. The individual is left alone to integrate systemic conflicts into his/her self-narrative. A new alienation arising from the second modernity is discussed: individualized work offers only functional value as the horizon for the identity-forming narrative.

Finally, I discuss how moral values have a basis in the body and the unconscious, aspects that become involved when the step into an individualized work-life must be taken and the individual has to create narrative meaning in the absence of a predetermined plot. Psychic sickness can be understood in light of insecurity concerning one s value and hence one s identity. When the moral consequences of an action for the unconscious are unforeseen, the individual is threatened by guilt, shame, and agony.