In this paper, we ethnographically explore the neoliberal society from two contrasting social and economic perspectives in Sweden: an elite community characterized by well-educated people, full employment and affluence and wealth, and a former working-class community with high unemployment rates, poverty and poor education level. Analysing rich and varied field data from 2010 through 2023, the theoretical framework is rooted in Erving Goffman's ideas on self-presentation, providing a lens through which to study the shifts in societal structures and expectations. More specifically, we examine the enactment of the neoliberal society through three interlaced practices: (a) aesthetic self-presentation; (b) behavioural self-presentation; and (c) attitudinal self-presentation. We suggest that the neoliberal society, driven by the ethos of market rationality, contributes to primarily strengthening “the employable self” among residents in the elite community, through such expressions as leadership, commitment, energy and activity. In the working-class community, however, we show how an emphasis on modesty, perseverance and loyalty, are qualities framed as “unemployability”. Despite radically different socio-economic conditions, we suggest how both communities share significant commonalities in the way individuals' self-presentations of employability are shaped by the cultural and communal contexts in which they reside.

ABSTRACT This paper reports the findings of a longitudinal case study of sheltered employment for activating so-called occupationally disabled people in Sweden. Data consist of interviews, archival studies and participant observation on how occupationally disabled people's employability is to be promoted and the consequences of such activities. It is argued that those that, for one reason or another, are unable to live up to the norms of being a ‘normal’ and hence fully active citizen, are objectified as passive and unemployable persons through the same principles that aim to make them active. Through its emphasis on ability, strength, and competence, the ‘active society’ may raise the bar of employability higher than ever before. As a result, an increasing number of people risk disablement and indeed end up as ‘disabled’.