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REGULATING WORKERS COMPENSATION: THE MEDICO LEGAL EVALUATION OF INJURED WORKERS IN VICTORIA
Author(s) -
Gribich Carol,
McGartland Michael,
Polgar Steve
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
australian journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1839-4655
pISSN - 0157-6321
DOI - 10.1002/j.1839-4655.1998.tb01333.x
Subject(s) - workers' compensation , legitimation , compensation (psychology) , project commissioning , social work , public relations , sociology , work (physics) , occupational safety and health , process (computing) , business , criminology , publishing , law , political science , psychology , politics , social psychology , engineering , mechanical engineering , computer science , operating system
Sociological research on occupational injury has been dominated by perspectives from the social organisation of work and the labour process. What is missing from this literature is an explanation of the actual experiences at the individual worker within the processes of legitimation of occupational injury. This study explores the experiences of injured workers as they move through the medico‐legal process. Medical reports and clients perspectives were used to expose the positions of doctors, insurance companies, lawyers and workers compensation bureaucrats as they form a complex intersection of power and interest in the regulation of injured workers. In particular, the conflicting roles of doctors as both gatekeepers and service providers were highlighted in the maintenance of stigmatised damaged workers.