Narrative, Experience and Class: Nineteenth-century Social History in Light of the Linguistic Turn

August, Andrew

doi:10.1111/j.1478-0542.2011.00770.x

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…The main idea was that experience, consciousness, and culture could not exist without a language to express them. 5 However, despite the shift in focus from assuming formation to examining shared lived experiences or the use of language, analysts continued to use structural variables to explain class formation (either the industrial structure or the structure of language), thus leaving the actor unexplored and powerless.…”

Section: Class Formation and Leadershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

From movement to organization: constructing identity in Swedish trade unions

Jansson

2013

Labor History

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Section: Class Formation and Leadershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

From movement to organization: constructing identity in Swedish trade unions

Jansson

2013

Labor History

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“…Whereas much of this research has focused on finding and isolating the explanatory factors underlying class formation (see e.g. August, 2011; Balibar, 1979; Kocka, 1986; Sewell, 1986), less attention has been paid to actors. Criticizing the focus on structural factors, Thompson (1963) directed attention to the lived experiences of class for the development of class consciousness.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Labour leaders as identity entrepreneurs: Identity formation in the Swedish trade union movement in the 1920s

Jansson

2022

Acta Sociologica

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This article explores how cohesive labour movements are created. Although overlooked by previous research, strategic labour leaders that act as identity entrepreneurs can play a decisive role in class formation processes. Using the Swedish trade union movement during the crucial period from 1910 through the 1930s as a case, I examine the labour leaders’ strategic actions to create cohesiveness in the movement. Being pressured by emerging left-wing organizations in the 1910s, Swedish labour leaders realized that the Trade Union Confederation needed a strong organizational identity. The threat of the fragmentation of the trade union movement into different organizations fighting over the same members made the leaders formulate and implement a strategy for cohesion. Through an extensive education campaign to teach trade union members the aim and meaning of the reformist union movement, the leaders hoped to solve the fragmentation problem. This article indicates not only that labour leaders actively managed identity formation in the Swedish case, but also that internal education served as a means for creating cohesiveness in the movement.

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Class Formation in Sweden and Britain: Educating Workers

Jansson

2016

Inter. Labor Working-Class Hist.

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The European labor movements developed in different directions during the twentieth century. The class formation literature has tried to explain these differences but left unexplored the internal dynamics of the labor movement and, above all, the differences in ideological schooling. Workers' education constitutes a forum for ideological schooling of members, and these educational settings can be identity constitutive and thus play an important part in the class formation process. In this article I analyze the institutions for workers' education in Sweden and Britain and I suggest that the variation of the design and practices of workers' education had an impact on the movements' developments in terms of identity formation and cohesiveness.The labor movement came to play a crucial role in the development of welfare states and democracy in the early twentieth century. Democratic citizenship was promoted by the reformist labor movement and became an important part of the consolidation of democracy during the interwar period. There were, however, significant differences between the European labor movements in terms of size, cohesiveness, ideology, and, ultimately, influence. In some of the Nordic countries, especially Sweden, the reformist labor movement became strong, unified, and influential. These countries developed comprehensive welfare states and peaceful industrial relations, while in other countries the labor movement was more fragmented. Different ideological factions ended up in conflict with each other instead of struggling together, making labor weak. Meanwhile in Spain, Italy, and Germany fascist movements overthrew democracy with support from parts of the working class. 2 How can we understand these national differences? There are varied explanations for the relative strength and ideology of the labor movements in Europe. The most common ones focus on structural variables and take the class formation literature as their point of departure. The internal dynamics of the labor movement and especially the differences in ideological schooling have, with few exceptions, not been the focus of comparative research on national labor movements. In this article I argue that examining workers' education may offer a path to a deeper understanding of the class formation process and, thus, a clearer grasp of national differences among labor movements. Workers' education constitutes a forum for ideological schooling of members that can be and has been identity-constitutive.To understand how class formation took place in different countries, we need to include workers' education in the analysis. In this article I analyze

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Narrative, Experience and Class: Nineteenth-century Social History in Light of the Linguistic Turn

Cited by 4 publications

References 40 publications

From movement to organization: constructing identity in Swedish trade unions

From movement to organization: constructing identity in Swedish trade unions

Labour leaders as identity entrepreneurs: Identity formation in the Swedish trade union movement in the 1920s

Class Formation in Sweden and Britain: Educating Workers

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