Negotiating privilege and social inequality in an alternative Sweden:Real Humans/Äkta Människor(SVT, 2012–2013)

Abstract

This article analyzes representations of privilege and social inequality in the science fiction TV series Äkta människor (Real Humans) (2012-2013), produced by Sweden's national public TV broadcaster (SVT). Set in the near future or a parallel present, Real Humans explores an alternative version of Sweden in which more and more human workers are replaced by a type of humanoid robot called "Hubots". Reviewers and scholars have interpreted the series in light of various contemporary social and political issues, many of which pertain to not only technology, but also social inequality amongst humans. This article connects Real Humans specifically to the recent increase in paid domestic labor in Scandinavia, and argues that the series deals with moral conflicts associated with being privileged and outsourcing household and care work. This is especially evident in the series' representation of Inger Engman, a Swedish mother, wife, and full-time employee, and her ambivalent relationship to her household and care work Hubot Mimi. Through Inger and Mimi, Real Humans explores moral and affective dimensions of privilege, and brings to mind concerns expressed by parents in Scandinavia who employ domestic workers and au pairs. Inger's conflicted relationship to Mimi also evokes the concept of maternal guilt. As I show, Real Humans is one of several contemporary Scandinavian narratives that use the au pair figure to comment on social and gender inequality in a globalized age, yet the series stands out in its debt to the science fiction genre. In sum, Real Humans is not only a rare and noteworthy example of a Scandinavian science fiction TV series-it also invites the viewer to reflect on the connections between privilege, social (in)equality, and work in contemporary Scandinavia.

Towards a Theory of Posthuman Care: Real Humans and Caring Robots

“…The potential disposability of Mimi's body is the programme's instigating event; early scenes show Mimi being kidnapped from a rogue band of independent hubot's and then reformatted for sale on the black market. She ends up as a nanny housekeeper for a White middle-class family (for an extended discussion of the programme's depiction of the racial dynamics of domestic labour in Scandinavia, see Yang, 2018). In fact, the programme's racialized bodies are primarily artificial and a black independent hubot fleeing with the others is destroyed when he seeks help from a human.…”

“… 11. My analysis interprets the series within the context of broader (largely Western) debates around the relation between non-human care and human ontology. For a detailed analysis of Äkta människor’s exploration of the tensions between Swedish egalitarianism and the increasing reliance on immigrant domestic workers, see Julianne Yang (2018). …”

“… 15. The series alludes to both European and specifically Swedish far right sympathies in its depiction of human hostility towards hubots. As Finish critic Aino-Kaisa Koistinen explains, the programme depicts ‘the hostile attitudes towards immigrants and the surge of neo-nationalist or patriotic political parties in the Nordic area and other European countries’ (quoted in Yang, 2018: 58). …”

Toward a dataist future: tracing Scandinavian posthumanism in Real Humans

“…The latter was perhaps contributed to by Frey and Osborne's much-publicized paper (2013), which was communicated to the public as half of US jobs risking automation. Later research suggests similar numbers for a range of countries.…”

Real Humans?: <i>Affective imaginaries of the human and its Others in the Swedish TV series Äkta människor</i>

“…Inspired in particular by Ahmed's work (2000Ahmed's work ( , 2004, we see affect as arising in relations and situations between bodies and entities, "sticking" to some more than others and giving rise to larger social, affectively informed imaginaries. As a case in point, it is difficult to watch Äkta människor without connecting it to the contemporary political situation in the Nordic countries (Yang 2018). Currently, debates about difference and immigration are arguably highly affective by way of invoking discourses of nationalism, paranoia and fear of the Other, particularly in relation to the organization of work and family.…”