| 1. |
- Mirsafian, Arvand, 1993-
(författare)
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Arbetarna och tekniken : Svensk fackföreningsrörelse, rationalisering och arbetsmarknadspolitik 1920–1950
- 2024
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation analyses the dynamics between trade unions, technological change, and labour market policies in Sweden, focusing specifically on the Metal Workers’ Union (Metall) from 1920 to 1950. By exploring archival materials, the study reveals how workers actively responded to and influenced technological changes and industrial rationalization, thereby shaping Sweden’s labour market policies.A significant portion of the dissertation examines the internal deliberations within Metall, highlighting the divergent viewpoints between the union leadership and rank-and-file members. These discussions, revolving around strategies to navigate employer-initiated rationalization efforts, reflected a spectrum of views. While the leadership often advocated for rationalization to foster class cooperation, the rank-and-file typically maintained a critical stance. The tensions over rationalization peaked during the major metalworkers’ strike of 1945, leading to agreements establishing a regulatory framework across Swedish industries.The findings underscore that workers were not passive recipients of technological change but were instrumental in negotiating the terms of rationalization, influencing the evolution of the Swedish labour market. For instance, the dissertation highlights the establishment of central institutions in the 1940s that reinforced class cooperation in matters relating to rationalization.In conclusion, this dissertation posits that the strategical response of the trade union movement to rationalization was crucial in shaping the Swedish labour market model in the 20th century.
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| 2. |
- Ågren, Karin, 1971-
(författare)
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Köpmannen i Stockholm : Grosshandlares ekonomiska och sociala strategier under 1700-talet
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The purpose of this thesis has been to describe and explain why wholesalers in Stockholm during the eighteenth century acted as they did. This analysis is built on the idea that peoples’ possibilities to act depends on the context in which they live and the person’s network. The starting-point for the analysis is an old discussion if the merchants made any difference in the transformation of society; were they a dynamic element or not? In this thesis wholesalers’ social and economic relations are studied from different viewpoints: how they married, how their credit network was built up, and what they consumed. The wholesalers are divided into groups depending on their income. The materials used are inventories, parish registers, registers of tax-payments and biographical books. The research shows that the differences in behaviour were small between the income groups. Most of the wholesalers married daughters of other merchants, they lent money to their own family, and they consumed more or less in the same way. There was a big economic gap between the wealthiest wholesalers and the less wealthy. Why their behaviour was nonethless so homogenous depended on their need of a network. The importance of this made them act the same. However, the study shows one group that acted a bit differently, wholesalers who belonged to the German congregation. In several ways they were an association in themselves. And the way they act can described as dynamic. Because they did not have an obligation to the Swedish network, they could act differently.
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| 3. |
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Aktörer och marknader i omvandling : studier i företagandets historia tillägnade Kersti Ullenhag
- 2011
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This book is a Festschrift to professor emerita Kersti Ullenhag in honour of her 75th birthday. Kersti Ullenhag has been a teacher and researcher in economic history at Uppsala University since the mid 1960’s. Her research has focused on different aspects of business history, often combining micro-oriented empirical case studies with Schumpeterian theories on entrepreneurship. In 19 chapters this book deals with research topics such as the roots of business history,political economy, business and entrepreneurship, the development of financial markets and gender perspectives in business and society.
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| 4. |
- Andersson, Jenny, 1974-
(författare)
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Mellan tillväxt och trygghet : Idéer om produktiv socialpolitik i socialdemokratisk socialpolitisk ideologi under efterkrigstiden
- 2003
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- For Swedish social democracy, social policy has historically been not only a means for individual security, but also a means for economic efficiency and growth in close relationship to economic policy. This doctoral dissertation shows that an important aspect of the ideological change of contemporary Swedish social democracy is the erosion of its growth oriented social policy ideology in the post-war period. Whereas a key element in the post-war ideology and the so-called “Strong society” was the conceptualisation of social policy as a productive investment, the ideology of the “Third way” is construed around ideas of social policy as a cost.The thesis discusses this ideological change as a dynamic relationship between growth and security as key concepts in the social policy ideology of Swedish social democracy. It argues that while growth and security where perceived as harmonious goals in the post-war period, the period from the late 1960’s can be seen as a development where growth and security became antagonistic goals, and the relationship between social policy and growth became increasingly problematic. The thesis focuses on two periods of antagonism (struggle over knowledge): the late 1960’s as a critique of growth and its social effects, conceptualised as social costs, and the early 1980’s as a critique of security and the economic cost of social policy. It is argued that both these periods can be seen as processes of crisis for social democracy, leading to new articulations and ideological change.
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| 5. |
- Andersson, Jonatan, 1991-
(författare)
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Migrants and Towns : Self-Selection and Occupational Attainment of Rural-Urban Migrants in Swedish History
- 2024
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- As countries experience structural transformation, a large portion of the rural population migrates to urban areas. A recurring question within social scientific fields, including economics, sociology, and economic history, is whether these migrants witness economic returns from relocating. This dissertation approaches this question by examining the self-selection and occupational attainment of rural-urban migration in Sweden during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century from a micro-level perspective. It consists of one introductory chapter and four research papers. A novel longitudinal database forms the empirical foundation for three out of the four research papers.Paper I investigates the determinants of rural-urban migration in the context of children leaving their parental homes. The results show that migration was selective on socio-economic status for men but not for women and that households engaged in risk-minimizing strategies by sending children of different genders to urban areas.Paper II analyzes the skill attainment of rural-urban migrants in urban areas. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, the results show that rural-urban migrants immediately upgraded their occupations when arriving in urban areas. However, they also witnessed further gains as they spent time in the urban area. Paper III is concerned with the intergenerational mobility of rural-urban return migrant men. I employ a within-household fixed-effects strategy to show that return migrants experienced substantial gains from temporarily moving to urban areas.Paper IV investigates the labor-market assimilation of rural-urban migrants. By contrast to the optimistic findings of the previous papers, I show that migrants never succeeded in converging with urban natives in terms of labor market outcomes. Taken together, the results show that at least migrant men were positively selected on socio-economic background, although most migrants originated in poorer households. Rural-urban migrants succeeded in improving their labor market outcomes after relocating but never reached the same heights as the urban born.
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| 6. |
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Arbete pågår : - i tankens mönster och kroppens miljöer
- 2008
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Work is always in progress, somewhere, in some form. In a historical perspective the view of work has changed, as have the contexts where work takes place. Still there are strongly rooted images of what work is – in the patterns of thought and material conditions.This book embarks from the idea that work is something both immaterial and material. It discusses work as a conception and cultural norm, but also as something very tangible and concrete.Researchers from an array of scientific fields have gathered together around these questions. The idea has been to twist and turn the conceptions of what work is and – embarking from one’s own discipline – to contribute new perspectives to this topic.
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| 7. |
- Bengtsson, Berit, 1960-
(författare)
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Kampen mot § 23 : Facklig makt vid anställning och avsked i Sverige före 1940
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to use a power perspective to describe the workers’ struggle for co-determination in the Swedish labour market during the period 1890–1939. The study explores how trade unions in general attempted to limit article 23, which asserted employers’ control over hiring and dismissal. At the same time the study clarifies differences in union power between various groups of workers. The prevalent historical view regarding the distribution of power in the labour market is thus questioned.The study shows that workers were not powerless before the Saltsjöbaden agreement in 1938. In certain areas workers, through their unions, already at the beginning of the 20th century had fairly good possibilities of influencing both hiring and dismissal. Collective agreements that were entered into before the defeat of the workers in the great conflict in the Swedish labour market in 1909, as well as collective agreements signed during the 1920s and 1930s, can make both the Saltsjöbaden agreement and present-day regulations look “hostile to workers”. In collective agreements workers achieved considerable limitations of employers’ arbitrary freedom to hire and dismiss workers. Certain unions could control their labour market efficiently by means of a labour exchange of their own. The development, however, varied over time and between different trade unions. Business cycles generally influenced how much power unions could exert. Access to power resources and other conditions varied between different workers’ groups. While some attained considerable power over hiring and dismissal, others had no possibilities of taking part in decision-making.
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| 8. |
- Bergdahl, Juan, 1962-
(författare)
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Den gemensamma transportpolitiken : Elimineringen av hinder för de gränsöverskridande vägtransporterna inom den Europeiska Gemenskaperna 1958-1992
- 1996
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation analyses the European Community's political efforts to eliminate barriers to Community road transport between and within the member states. In this context, the study concentrates on the Community's activities to remove barriers to market access, such as limitations to the freedom to provide transport services, and pshysical barriers such as infrastructure capacity restrictions, checks and inspections at Community internal borders. The dissertation addresses the subjects through an institutional approach. According to the Treaty of Rome, the necessary provisions for international transport and rules under wich nonresident carriers could operate transport services within a member state other than their own (cabotage) should originally have been introduced within fifteen years of the foundation of the EEC. While the Community could be said to be relatively successful in eliminating physical barriers to cross border road transport, progress was lacking in the field of market access. Political crises, national differences and a policymaking system centred around unanimimous decision-making limited or blocked the development of necessary provisions for the enforcement of the freedom to provide services in road transport. The Community's transport policy dead-lock was finally broken in the 1980's through legal action against the Council, new Commission policy initiatives and a change of relevant decision-making rules. Between the mid 1980's and 1992, necessary provisions were developed at an accelerated pace. However, at the end of the period of study, much still remained to be done before the European road transport market could be said to be integrated in the true sense of the word.
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| 9. |
- Bergström, Göran, 1977-
(författare)
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Från svensk malmexport till utländsk etablering : Grängesbergsbolagets internationalisering 1953-1980
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The main purpose of this thesis is to analyze the internationalisation of the Grängesberg Company from 1953 to 1980. The strategies that the company used and the knowledge it gained by participating in international mining projects are studied. The first and largest mining activity abroad was the Lamco project in Liberia. By transferring the company’s competence and knowledge of mining activities to Liberia, the Grängesberg Company used an international strategy of horizontal integration. The company’s contacts were of importance to start the production in 1963. The main ambition was thereafter to negotiate new long-term contracts in order to create stability for the project in the 1960s and the 1970s. Through its involvement in the Lamco project, the Grängesberg Company also acquired shares in a Belgian steel company and became half-owner with the Liberian state in a foreign shipping company. The experience and knowledge that the company gained in the Lamco project was used to increase its internationalisation in the 1970s. Appointing a Mineral Project Group, it investigated existing mineral projects abroad and formulated new internationalisation strategies such as vertical integration and diversification. The main motive for the further expansion abroad in the mining area was a need for resources for its domestic production. The most important outcome was the acquisition of a Canadian copper company, and the company integrated backwards to gain access to copper. The Grängesberg Company also used its competence by doing prospecting work in New Caledonia, Peru and Canada and consultant work in mining projects in Iran and Saudi Arabia in the 1970s. The study has shown that further international expansion became limited because of the downturn of the international economy in the 1970s, but also because of the company’s cautious attitude towards the political risks that were associated with international mining projects.
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| 10. |
- Björvang, Carl, 1988-
(författare)
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Cracks in the Ivory Tower : Antibiotics Research and the Changes in Academia 1980-2015
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- At the same time as resistance to antibiotics became an increasingly problematic health care concern around the world, major changes occurred in the condition scientists faced when conducting university-based research. This thesis aims to study these changes as they applied to antibacterial and bacteriological research, and how they influenced the researchers’ ability to make new scientific discoveries. Especially such discoveries that could be of critical importance for addressing the resistance problems of the era.Using interviews with researchers, funding data and political documents, this thesis has been able to confirm that findings regarding the global trend of changes in academic research from previous research also applied to the bacteriological research in Sweden in the late 20th and early 21st century. These changes included increased performance pressure, administrative burden, and concentration of funding to a few large research groups as well as decreased employment security and less time for senior researchers to be directly active in the scientific work. While there were many intertwined underlying factors for these developments, most of them could be traced back to the changes in funding model for academic science. Most crucially, research funding turned from being based on employment to being based on recurring applications to funding agencies.In conclusion, the changes in academic research conditions had major impacts on the ability of researchers to make new scientific discoveries. They incentivised doing safe, low-risk research with predictable outcomes, and producing many small, insubstantial publications. There were also some positive effects, such as a decrease in the impunity of senior researchers and a limitation on their ability to rest on their laurels. However, overall, this move away from taking chances and daring to research the truly unknown is likely to have decreased the ability of researchers to utilise their talents and follow-up on chance findings, decreasing their potential for discovery-making. Instead, it is likely that these changes within academia indirectly contributed to the antibacterial resistance problem by slowing down the rate of major breakthroughs in antibacterial treatments.
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