Time to work : responsibilization and reification in the swedish welfare state

In late 2015 and early 2016, more than two million refugees crossed European borders. It was a time that has become known as the refugee crisis. Sweden welcomed more than 160,000 refugees, the second highest number per capita in Europe. This dissertation is a qualitative study focusing on the mandatory two-year Establishment Programme that all individuals between the age of 18 and 65 were enrolled in once they had received their residence permit. Governed by the Swedish
Public Employment Service, the individuals who had come to Sweden as refugees were expected to establish themselves on the Swedish labour market as quickly as possible. It was Time to Work.
Theoretically, this dissertation addresses concerns in literature on performance management within the critical accounting research stream in general and the growing body of literature on accounting and immigration in particular. Through an analysis based in contemporary Critical Theory, the study concludes that the expectations to perform did not only alienate and reify the individuals, but they also expected a specific type of individual and performer. The consequence, I conclude, is that the Swedish welfare state, while built on solidarity and a century of social reforms, degraded new citizens’ social status to a level below the ordinary working class.

This is a doctoral thesis in Business Administration at Stockholm University, Sweden 2024.