The covid-19 pandemic in Sweden is characterized by high uncertainty and risk. Health experts and authorities play a central part in informing and guiding the public’s responses to a pandemic. But to have the right to operate, an organization’s legitimacy is important. How does a health expert authority get people to follow the guidelines to ensure public health efforts success in the covid-19 pandemic? This case study focused on Folkhälsomyndigheten’s perceived legitimacy by young adults in Sweden during the covid-19 pandemic, by understanding if Folkhälsomyndigheten was perceived as a legitimate expert and how their legitimacy was constituted through their conveying of risk. Hence, we aimed to contribute to health and crisis communication by adopting a public-centered approach to the constitution of legitimacy. The empirical data was collected through three online focus group interviews with 20-24-year-olds. Suchman’s legitimacy theory and Giddens’s notion of the postindustrial risk society was used the analyze the results. Through a thematic analysis, we discovered a total of 12 themes distributed over 3 dimensions, showing that Folkhälsomyndigheten’s legitimacy was constituted on the premises of pragmatic legitimacy, based on the self-interest of the public. We could conclude that Folkhälsomyndigheten was viewed as a legitimate expert because of their status as an institutionalized health authority, and that the legitimacy of their expert position role was grounded in a democratic mindset. Folkhälsomyndigheten’s legitimacy was, through procedures, representatives, and human attributes, constituted by organizing the unstable situation for the young adults to gain a feeling of stability.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-414017 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Bäckström, Sanna, Ohlsson, Amanda |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för informatik och media, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för informatik och media |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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