摘要：The reform of the Norwegian pension system in the early 2000s
sparked off a need to reform occupational pensions. In the private
sector, this was done in negotiations in 2008. In the public sector,
a similar attempt in 2009 failed, and the process was only finalized
in 2018. We aim to show how discourse, and the way the issues
were framed through narratives and metaphors, affected the
reform processes in 2008/2009. We outline the significance of
different constellation of actors in the two sectors, and show
how this affected the ability to achieve common understandings
(coordinative discourse) and popular support (communicative discourse).
We then focus in particular on one popular metaphor,
namely the toiler, and show how toilers emerged in different
guises in both the private and public sector negotiations. A clear
notion of what the toiler needed was constructed during the
private-sector negotiations. When negotiations moved to the public
sector, and a different type of toiler entered the picture, key
reform architects were unable to adjust. The metaphor of the toiler
ended up as a ‘cognitive lock’ that hampered rather than promoted
reform in the public sector.
