Social uses of illness at the workplace: Sick leave and moral evaluation

Nicolas Dodier

Social Science & Medicine, 1985, vol. 20, issue 2, 123-128

Abstract: From interviews with 25 white-collar employees in France, the processes are analysed through which fellow workers and superiors morally evaluate persons who are ill. The differences between this lay interpretation and the medical one are highlighted along with the criteria (the 'sick leave' and 'morbidity' scales) used to form judgments. A person's illness can be used as a pretext to justify measures that are related to other aspects of his life at the workplace. These uses of illness lead us to raise new questions about the legitimation of symptoms by the physician. They also throw light upon the pervasive means of social control that lie outside medical institutions.

Date: 1985
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0277-9536(85)90296-5
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:20:y:1985:i:2:p:123-128

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
http://www.elsevier. ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian

More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().