The ‘compliant’, the ‘pacified’ and the ‘rebel’: experiences with Swiss disability insurance

Abstract

Switzerland’s social policies in the field of disability have been significantly reshaped over the last two decades by reducing the number of allowances awarded and by increasing the recourse to vocational rehabilitation measures. What stances do individuals who experience the implementation of these policies adopt? What kind of tests are they subjected to? How can we explain the posture they adopt – be it ‘compliant’, ‘pacified’ or ‘rebellious’ – when facing the (re)assignations of their identity and professional status? Drawing on interviews conducted with individuals who have recently been involved in programmes set up by Swiss disability insurance, we highlight their uncertainties and concerns relating to their place in society, as well as their reactions to disability insurance’s interventions.

Keywords:

• disability insurance
• vocational rehabilitation
• Switzerland
• ableism
• social policy

Notes

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the journal reviewers for their stimulating comments, Toni M. Calasanti and the Department of Sociology of Virginia Tech (USA) for their useful comments on an oral presentation of this article in 2017, the colleagues of NCCR LIVES, and Élisabeth Hirsch Durrett and Nyan Storey for the English translation.

This work was undertaken at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Project 156131.

2 In order to ensure anonymity, fictitious names have been used. The occupations indicated are those the subjects practised at the time of interview. Age and professional status are only specified the first time the participants are quoted.

3 36.6% of economically active persons in Switzerland in 2017 work part-time (Federal Statistical Office, table 03.02.01.16).