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Class identity and class politics among Swedish industrialists 1918 to 1939
| Within the tradition of Swedish labour history, many researchers stress the importance of looking at class as a social and economic relationship. Yet there is much more emphasis put on describing how workers form their class identities, then on other classes or social groups. Far too little attention has been given to the formation and re-formation of class identities among Swedish industrialists.
The period from 1918 to 1939 is one of drastic changes in the Swedish labour market and in politics. Universal suffrage was introduced and the social democratic party gradually gained power, and eventually formed government. In the labour market the growing power of the unions was felt through an increase in strike activity in the 1920’s, followed by negotiations and more peaceful relations at the end of the 1930’s.
The paper is empirically based on a study of letters and biographical material from the families Wallenberg and Wehtje, two of the leading owners in Swedish industry at the time. The hypothesis put forward is that due to the changes in the Swedish labour market and politics during the period there is a significant change in how leading industrialists see themselves and how they present themselves to others. The focus of the paper is on class and class identities, but emphasis is also put on race and gender identities. Processes of homo sociality and whiteness are important in the shaping of the identities among these all white male industrialists.
The paper also aims at investigating the political responses and strategies formulated by the leading industrialists in relation to the changes during this period. These strategies will be analysed with the help of Antonio Gramscis concepts of hegemony and historical bloc.
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