Sweden abolished its statutory fixed retirement age already in the 1990’s in order to meet the challenges to the pension system from increasing life expectancy. Nevertheless, a 65-year retirement norm still remains in reality. Measures adopted in support of extended work life policy, such as tax drop on income for those over 65 years, raising the age for the right to remain at work or introducing age in the Discrimination Act, have not been successful. In fact, the policy change has been accompanied with claims of ageism against older jobseekers and the difficulty for certain occupational groups to extend their working life due to injuries or the work becoming too heavy. Research on policy change has, among other, been addressed by theories on norm-nudging, i.e., activities to bring about changes in behavior so as to achieve a desired outcome or to align the behavior with public policy decisions. From this perspective the study examines the Swedish Pensions Agency’s efforts through the use of positive campaigning to persuade the general public, in particular the working population, of the benefits of continued work. With a focus on data collected from social media, the study analyses the content of the agency’s positive campaigning messages as well as the response to these efforts. The aim is to contribute to a better understanding of the resistance to this policy change and how it might be overcome.

Authors:
Lisbeth Segerlund, Gothenburg University, Sweden

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Lisbeth Segerlund is a Senior Lecturer in Human Rights at the School of Global Studies, Gothenburg University, Sweden. Her research is currently focused on norm construction in relation to age-norms and ageism.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisbeth-segerlund-869772110/

Additional website of interest
https://www.gu.se/en/about/find-staff/lisbethsegerlund

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