Social uses of illness at the workplace: sick leave and moral evaluation.

From interviews with 25 white-collar employees in France, the processes are analysed through which fellow workers and superiors morally evaluate persons who are ill. The differences between this lay interpretation and the medical one are highlighted along with the criteria (the 'sick leave' and 'morbidity' scales) used to form judgments. A person's illness can be used as a pretext to justify measures that are related to other aspects of his life at the workplace. These uses of illness lead us to raise new questions about the legitimation of symptoms by the physician. They also throw light upon the pervasive means of social control that lie outside medical institutions.