Diskussioner om aktivietsersättning - En diskursanalys av riksdagsdebatten om aktivitetsersättningen

Sammanfattning: The scope of this thesis was to examine how members of the Swedish Parliament construct the Swedish Activity Compensation scheme in contemporary legislative debate. This study sought to fulfil this scope by applying Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse analytical approach to fifteen records of proceedings portraying debate in the Swedish Parliament, ranging from the parliamentary year 2015/16 to 2019/20. The records chosen were selected by applying a goal-oriented selection based on the criteria that the records had to portray contemporary sociopolitical debate regarding Activity Compensation. Thereafter, the empirical material was subjected to an analysis during which central signifiers, and the discursive formation pertaining to these signifiers, were identified. This resulted in an understanding of shared discursive constructions amongst the members of Parliament. This thesis found that Activity Compensation has been associated with individual conversion to employment in parliamentary debate. Activities have been associated with interventions that aim to increase the work ability of the recipients. Such association implies the perception that social inclusion is now only achievable through workforce involvement, since the shared understanding of activities as instruments to compensate for lack of social inclusion has been discarded. Furthermore, this thesis found that terminology associated with financial security has been ascribed the denotations of safety, and workforce engagement stimuli. In debate specifically pertaining to individuals perceived as unable to achieve any form of work ability the construction of financial security loses its meaning as a means to stimulate workforce engagement. The recipients of Activity Compensations are as a whole constructed as being inactive, lacking initiative and subjected to social exclusion and health concerns due to their lack of employment.