In late 2015 and early 2016, over two million refugees crossed the European borders. It was a period that has become known as the refugee crisis. Sweden welcomed over 160,000 refugees, the second highest number per capita in Europe.

- "Initially, the study was supposed to focus on the development of indicators to measure performance within a unit at the Swedish Public Employment Service. However, when I understood that they were working to help those who arrived in Sweden as refugees during the so-called refugee crisis of 2015/2016 to establish themselves in the Swedish labor market, it quickly became clear to me that I needed to study the measurement of performance from a broader societal perspective," says Desirée.

Desirée Ödén with the thesis "Time to Work Responsibilization and Reification in the Swedish Welfare State." Photo: Maria Stoetzer

The thesis is a qualitative study of performance within the Establishment Programme, the mandatory two-year programme in which all refugees between the ages of 18 and 65 were enrolled as soon as they received their residence permits. The Swedish Public Employment Service was responsible for the programme, and individuals who arrived in Sweden at this time were expected to establish themselves in the Swedish labor market as quickly as possible.

Desirée Ödén has interviewed employment officers working within the Establishment Programme, observed meetings between employment officers and job seekers, and observed "open house" events at the Public Employment Service offices in three medium-sized municipalities. In addition, she has studied public documents and the social reforms and legislative changes underlying the construction of the Swedish welfare state, the relationship between the state and the individual, and what is often referred to as "the Swedish model."

Can you tell us about the conclusions you present in the thesis?

One of the conclusions is that the Swedish state, through mandatory state processes and performance measurement, such as the compilation of a modern CV, alienates and reifies the individual, thereby depriving new residents of their value in order to integrate them into a system that, despite being built on social democratic values such as solidarity, is increasingly characterized by ideals associated with market logic and capitalist production rationality. In practice, this often means that the state completely disregards individuals' previous experiences and lifelong careers and professional identities, and large groups of people who do not conform to what is considered value-creating in the Swedish labor market are excluded.

The more theoretical conclusions are based on the analysis from a modern Critical Theory perspective, where I argue that the way we measure performance in our modern society, both in Sweden and in large parts of the Western world, stems from a middle-class perspective that both assumes and creates expectations of a certain minimum level for what counts as valuable performance, but also expectations that everyone should achieve the ideals for, or strive to become, a certain type of individual (performer).

Desirée Ödén together with supervisors Associate Professor Ebba Sjögren, Stockholm School of Economics, Assistant Professor Fredrik Svärdsten Nymans, Stockholm Business School and Associate Professor Mikael Holmgren Caicedo, Stockholm Business School. Photo: Maria Stoetzer

The thesis contributes to the still relatively new research field that examines the role of accounting techniques related to immigration and immigrants in modern welfare states. Immigration is a major challenge for many countries in the world right now, and therefore, I argue that it is crucial for us as social scientists to study the interaction between the state and the individual from critical perspectives that highlight and defend everyone's equal value, rather than relying on performance management and accounting as relatively static processes where performance is assumed to be measurable and controllable within the framework of an organization's operations, thus risking reifying (objectifying) the individual.

By introducing modern Critical Theory, the dissertation contributes to a shift in the discussion from a common perspective that is based on the conditions and perspectives of the broad middle class to addressing issues concerning marginalized groups, which refugees are often considered to be regardless of their social status in their previous homeland.

Read the thesis "Time to Work - Responsibilization and Reification in the Swedish Welfare State."