Social Integrative Enterprises and the Construction of an Impaired Lumpenproletariat – a Swedish Case Study

Abstract

This paper accounts for a study of the joint ambitions of the Swedish Public employment office and social enterprises to integrate jobseekers with impairments in the labor market. The number of jobseekers with impairments has increased in western labor markets. The Swedish labor market is a particular case in point. Why? I use critical disability studies in combination with Marxist studies on immaterial labor to develop the following answer: An increasing number of jobseekers are diagnosed as impaired, not because their bodily constitution makes them unfit to handle manual labor, but because their socio-cultural characteristics make them unfit to handle immaterial forms of labor. Furthermore, I show how the diagnosis of these jobseekers as impaired does not lead to that they are also considered disabled. On the contrary, they are considered to have a particular, bio-medically defined fit and ability when it comes to handling simple, manual and low paid forms of work. Hereby, I argue that they are made up as a bio-medically defined “lumpenproletariat”.

Treating disability as an asset (not a limitation): A critical examination of disability inclusion through social entrepreneurship

“…This paper has taken a closer look at a new organizational form-social enterprises-that seeks to challenge prevailing images by leveraging disability not as a liability but as a unique talent and source of value (Maravelias, 2022a(Maravelias, , 2022b. Our analysis has brought to the fore how the "disability as asset" approach instigates a shift in the social imaginary of disability (Laine and Kibler, 2022) by drawing attention away from disability as a pathological medical condition that needs to be cured and rehabilitated toward a celebration of disability as a human talent that can be unlocked through employment.…”

“…The first issue that strikes us as urgent is that the value of disability, due to the market-based approach to inclusion employed by social enterprises adopting an "asset" approach, is considered mainly or even exclusively in terms of commercial value creation. There is hence a risk that new disability-oriented business models-by creating a market demand for the hidden talents of disabled people (Chandra, 2018;Chui et al, 2021;Hockerts, 2015;Kaul et al, 2022;Maravelias, 2022aMaravelias, , 2022b-affirm ableist interpretations of what has value (Mitchell and Snyder, 2015). This risk weighs heavily when, as was evident in our empirical case, specific characteristics of disabled people become not only organizational resources to be harnessed for commercial use but also part of public proclamations about what being disabled means or entails.…”

“…Popular examples include employing people with cognitive impairments for IT services or food delivery (Ho and Chan, 2010;Laratta and Nakagawa, 2016;Wolf and Mair, 2019), blind people for breast cancer detection and massage (Sánchez and Roy, 2019), or deaf people as parcel or food couriers and waiters (Hoffmann-Dilloway, 2011;Krishnamurthy et al, 2012). What unites these endeavors is that they treat disabilities not as negative deviances from an able-bodied norm (read: limitation) but as conditions associated with "hidden talents" that can be unlocked through productive activities in the mainstream market (Maravelias, 2022a(Maravelias, , 2022bYates, 2015). This type of employment is characterized by the provision of competitive wages rather than subsidies and a higher degree of interaction with nondisabled clients and/or coworkers (Chui et al, 2021;Gidron, 2014).…”

“…Alongside welfare state and civil society actors that traditionally provide security, training, and access to employment for people with disabilities, social enterprises are at the forefront of a new paradigm for disability inclusion. These enterprises aspire to overcome deficit-oriented and paternalistic approaches to disability inclusion by creating work opportunities that match the unique capabilities of people with disabilities (Buhariwala et al, 2015;Di Domenico et al, 2010;Maravelias, 2022aMaravelias, , 2022b. Consider, as an emblematic example, the Danish social enterprise Specialisterne, which leverages the computer skills of people with autism who are allowed to work from home to avoid anxiety-provoking social situations.…”

“…Research shows that Specialisterne has succeeded in combining "doing good" (creating jobs for people on the autism spectrum) with "doing well" (making money) (Laratta and Nakagawa, 2016;Wolf and Mair, 2019). Given the intuitive appeal of this "disability as asset" approach, it is hardly surprising that social enterprises are being lauded for opening up a new era of inclusion that can boost the wellbeing of disabled groups through market-based activities (Chandra, 2018;Gidron, 2014;Ho and Chan, 2010;Hockerts, 2015;Maravelias, 2022aMaravelias, , 2022b. Beyond such positive recognition, however, the theoretical understanding of the inner workings of social entrepreneurial disability inclusion remains sorely limited (Chui et al, 2021).…”