Det individuella möter det kollektiva. Självbiografiskt stoff i barndomsskildringar från det svenska folkhemmet

The subject of the article are autobiographical threads present in Swedish stories about childhood and adolescence published after 1986 that form part of the narrative pertaining to the origins, evolution and decline of the Swedish welfare state (folkhemmet). With reference to such concepts as autobiographical pact, autobiographical novel and auto-fiction, the author discusses the various ways six contemporary Swedish writers (PC Jersild, Kjell Johansson, Susanna Alakoski, Jonas Gardell and Lena Andersson) use their biographies. Special focus is given to the notion of how a cogitation upon individual fate becomes universal when placed in a social context. Another problem analysed by the author is the significance of autobiographical threads for building relationships between the writer and the reader and for the reception of a literary text.

Recensioner av tre publikationer: 1. Utvandrarna och den stora depressionen av Ulf Beijbom. 2. Landsmän. De danska judarnas flykt i oktober 1943 av Bo Lidegaard. 3. Det städade folkhemmet. Tyskfödda hembiträden i efterkrigstidens Sverige av Emma Strollo.

Bokrecension

History, Transfer, Politics : Five studies on the legacy of Uppsala philosophy

The Uppsala school of Axel Hägerström can be said to have been the last genuinely Swedish philosophical movement. On the other hand, the Swedish analytic tradition is often said to have its roots in Hägerström s thought. This work examines the transformation from Uppsala philosophy to analytic philosophy from an actor-based historical perspective. The aim is to describe how a group of younger scholars (Ingemar Hedenius, Konrad Marc-Wogau, Anders Wedberg, Alf Ross, Herbert Tingsten, Gunnar Myrdal) colonised the legacy of Hägerström and Uppsala philosophy, and faced the challenges they met in trying to reconcile this legacy with the changing philosophical and political currents of the 1930s and 40s. Following Quentin Skinner, the texts are analysed as moves or speech acts in a particular historical context. The thesis consists of five previously published case studies and an introduction. The first study describes how the image of Hägerström as the father of the Swedish analytic tradition was created by a particular faction of younger Uppsala philosophers who (re-) presented the Hägerströmian philosophy as a parallel movement to logical empiricism. The second study examines the confrontations between Uppsala philosophy and logical empiricism in both the editorial board and in the pages of Sweden s leading philosophical journal Theoria. The third study focuses on how the younger generation redescribed Hägerströmian legal philosophical ideas (Scandinavian Legal Realism), while the fourth study discusses how they responded to the accusations of a connection between Hägerström s value nihilistic theory and totalitarianism. Finally, the fifth study examines how the Swedish social scientist and Social Democratic intellectual Gunnar Myrdal tried to reconcile value nihilism with a strong political programme for social reform. The contribution of this thesis to the field consists mainly in a re-evaluation of the role of Uppsala philosophy in the history of Swedish philosophy. From this perspective the Uppsala School was less a collection of certain definite philosophical ideas than an intellectual legacy that was the subject of fierce struggles. Its theories and ideas were redescribed in various ways by individual actors with different philosophical and political intentions.

Angereds fritidscentrum : En spricka i välfärdsbygget

Stadsdelen Angered var en del av det enorma nationella bostadsbyggnadsprogram som benämns som miljonprogrammet. Detta program genomfördes i Angered under åren 1967 – 1975 och kom att prägla Göteborgs stadsbild och demografiska struktur in i framtiden. En del av grunden till miljonprogrammets fanns inom den folkhemsideologi socialdemokratin i hegemoni med staten försökt genomdriva under några årtionden. Det handlade om allas rätt till ett bra och hälsosamt boende.          Angereds fritidscentrum var en del av den centralt styrda planeringen av byggandet av Angereds miljonprogramsområden. Stat och skola samt kommun och socialtjänst var två verksamheter som var drivande i denna planering. I min studie kommer jag att undersöka det som verkade vara en enhetlig plan innehöll olika faktorer som synliggör dessa aktörers roller. Dessas roller och agerande visar på tendenser i något jag kallar sprickor i välfärden.