Logo Oapen
  • Join
    • Deposit
    • For Librarians
    • For Publishers
    • For Researchers
    • Funders
    • Resources
    • OAPEN
        View Item 
        •   OAPEN Home
        • View Item
        •   OAPEN Home
        • View Item
        JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

        Writing Class

        Precarious Labour in Contemporary Swedish Literature

        Thumbnail
        Download PDF Viewer
        Web Shop
        Author(s)
        Nilsson, Magnus cc
        Language
        Swedish
        Show full item record
        Abstract
        In Writing Class, Magnus Nilsson offers a groundbreaking exploration of how contemporary Swedish literature responds to the rise of precarious labour. Focusing on literary portrayals of working-class experiences of labour-market precarity in the post-welfare state era, Nilsson examines how authors engage with the socio-economic transformations that have reshaped Sweden’s labour market since the turn of the millennium. Through close readings of novels, poetry, drama, reportage, and graphic narratives, the book reveals how literature not only helps readers understand the realities of precarious labour but also contributes to the political imaginaries that shape resistance to it. Nilsson situates his analysis within broader scholarly debates on the precariat, precarity, and precariousness. In particular, Writing Class engages critically with Guy Standing’s notion of the precariat as a distinct global class, by showing how Swedish literature often portrays precarious workers as part of a broadly defined working class, deeply embedded in national histories of labour struggle and welfare reform, often advocating for traditional labour-movement politics and union organising as the best response to labour-market precarity. Nilsson explores how contemporary Swedish literature about precarious labour both engages with and reconfigures the tradition of working-class literature. While older working-class literature often portrayed workers from within a politically organised and ideologically unified class, contemporary authors write about a fragmented and politically unorganised precariat. Nilsson argues that these authors do not merely represent an existing class but actively contribute to its formation as a class-for-itself. Furthermore, Nilsson identifies many references to the tradition of working-class literature that serve as rhetorical signals, inviting readers to interpret new texts within the framework of working-class literature. Nilsson challenges the assumption that working-class literature must be written from within the class in a biographical sense. Instead, he proposes a political understanding of class, where ideological commitment and engagement with the labour movement are central. This reframing allows contemporary authors writing about precarious labour to be seen as continuing the tradition of working-class literature, albeit in new forms suited to today’s socio-economic realities. Drawing on thinkers such as Toril Moi, Rita Felski, and Axel Honneth, Writing Class underscores literature’s capacity to generate situated knowledge, embrace complexity, and inspire political action. A vital contribution to literary studies, cultural theory, and labour history, Writing Class is essential reading for scholars interested in the intersections of literature, class, and political economy in the Nordic context and beyond.
        URI
        https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/111019
        Keywords
        Class; Labour; Labour market; Precariat; Working-class literature
        DOI
        10.60156/kriterium.73
        ISBN
        9789178776870, 9789178776870, 9789178776887
        Publisher
        Kriterium
        Publication date and place
        Lund, Sweden, 2025
        Imprint
        Kriterium
        Series
        Malmö University Studies in Class and Culture, 2
        Classification
        Literary studies: from c 2000
        Fiction and Related items
        Fiction: special features
        Narrative theme: Social issues
        Pages
        192
        Rights
        https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en/
        • Imported or submitted locally

        Browse

        All of OAPENSubjectsPublishersLanguagesCollections

        My Account

        LoginRegister

        Export

        Repository metadata
        Logo Oapen
        • For Librarians
        • For Publishers
        • For Researchers
        • Funders
        • Resources
        • OAPEN

        Newsletter

        • Subscribe to our newsletter
        • view our news archive

        Follow us on

        License

        • If not noted otherwise all contents are available under Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

        Credits

        • logo EU
        • This project received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 683680, 810640, 871069 and 964352.

        OAPEN is based in the Netherlands, with its registered office in the National Library in The Hague.

        Director: Niels Stern

        Address:
        OAPEN Foundation
        Prins Willem-Alexanderhof 5
        2595 BE The Hague
        Postal address:
        OAPEN Foundation
        P.O. Box 90407
        2509 LK The Hague

        Websites:
        OAPEN Home: www.oapen.org
        OAPEN Library: library.oapen.org
        DOAB: www.doabooks.org

         

         

        Export search results

        The export option will allow you to export the current search results of the entered query to a file. Differen formats are available for download. To export the items, click on the button corresponding with the preferred download format.

        A logged-in user can export up to 15000 items. If you're not logged in, you can export no more than 500 items.

        To select a subset of the search results, click "Selective Export" button and make a selection of the items you want to export. The amount of items that can be exported at once is similarly restricted as the full export.

        After making a selection, click one of the export format buttons. The amount of items that will be exported is indicated in the bubble next to export format.