Class Consciousness and Education in Sweden: A Marxist Analysis of Revolution in a Social Democracy

241 Pages·2017·0.972 MB·English

by  Alpesh Maisuria

Class Consciousness and
Education in Sweden
Emerging from a Marxist perspective, this book focuses on the importance
of social class and the role of education broadly in relation to the possibility of
revolutionary change in Sweden and beyond. Critically tracing the celeb rated
so-called ‘Swedish model’ from its inception to its current neoliberalisation,
Maisuria explores the contours of class as part of social democratic history,
culture, and education, especially against the alternatives of communism and
fascism. Presenting empirical research on class consciousness within a higher
education context, Maisuria analyses student testimonies on their perceptions
of social democracy and ‘Swedishness’ with ethno-racial dynamics, which is
subjected to a Gramscian and Critical Realist derived explanatory critique
for social transformation.
Alpesh Maisuria is a Senior Lecturer at the University of East London,
United Kingdom.
Routledge Studies in Education,
Neoliberalism, and Marxism
Series editor: Dave Hill
Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford and Cambridge, England
10 Neoliberal Education Reform
Gendered Notions in Global and Local Contexts
Sarah A. Robert
11 Curriculum Epistemicide
Towards An Itinerant Curriculum Theory
João M. Paraskeva
12 Alternatives to Privatizing Public Education
and Curriculum
Festschrift in Honor of Dale D. Johnson
Edited by Daniel Ness & Stephen J. Farenga
13 The Neoliberal Agenda and the Student Debt Crisis in
U.S. Higher Education
Voices of Students and Faculty
Edited by Nicholas D. Hartlep, Lucille L.T. Eckrich,
and Brandon O. Hensley
14 Ethnography of a Neoliberal School
Building Cultures of Success
Garth Stahl
15 Film as a Radical Pedagogical Tool
Deirdre O’Neill
16 Career Guidance for Social Justice
Contesting Neoliberalism
Edited by Tristram Hooley, Ronald Sultana, and Rie Thomsen
17 Class Consciousness and Education in Sweden
A Marxist Analysis for Revolutionary Strategy in a Social Democracy
Alpesh Maisuria
Class Consciousness and
Education in Sweden
A Marxist Analysis for Revolutionary
Strategy in a Social Democracy
Alpesh Maisuria
First published 2018
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 Taylor & Francis
The right of Alpesh Maisuria to be identifi ed as author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Names: Maisuria, Alpesh, author.
Title: Class consciousness and education in Sweden : a Marxist analysis for
revolutionary strategy in a social democracy / by Alpesh Maisuria.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2018. | Series: Routledge studies in education,
neoliberalism, and Marxism ; 17 | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2017041884| ISBN 9781138286009 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781315268682 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Education—Social aspects—Sweden. | Democracy and
education—Sweden. | Class consciousness—Sweden. | Social classes—Sweden.
Classifi cation: LCC LA902 .M35 2018 | DDC 370.9485—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017041884
ISBN: 978-1-138-28600-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-26868-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
For Archie Hugo Maisuria and Jo, and also those who are,
and have, engaged in the struggle for a socialist world.

Contents
Preface and Foreword ix
Organisation of Book x
PART 1
Marxism, Sweden, and Two Crises 1
1 Class Consciousness Towards the Possibility
of Revolution 3
2 Charting a History of Social Democracy 6
2.1 1917–1970s: Origins and the Golden Years of
Traditional Swedish Social Democracy 8
2.2 1970s–1990s: The Emerging Crisis of Swedish Social
Democracy 15
2.3 1990s–2000s: Traditional Swedish Social Democracy
Reconfi gured as the New Swedish Model 19
2.4 Sweden and the Education System 22
2.5 Ethno-‘Racial’, Socio-Cultural, and Political Transitions in
Contemporary Sweden 25
2.6 Opening Up the History and Future of Swedish Social
Democracy 29
3 Theoretical and Philosophical Marxism as a
Social Science 32
3.1 19th and Early 20th-Century Crisis of Marxist Theory for
Revolution 33
3.2 Historical Materialism and Critical Realism 51
3.3 Antonio Gramsci’s Historical Materialism and
Revolutionary Marxism 60
3.4 Class Struggle in Cultural Forms 63
3.5 The Signifi cance of Hegemony for Class Struggle 68
viii Contents
PART 2
Designing an Empirical Study of
Consciousness and Practices of Class 77
4 Research Strategy and Design 79
4.1 Articulating a Problematic for Research 79
4.2 Particulars and Practicalities of a Study Exploring Class in Sweden 84
4.3 Life History Interviews 86
4.4 A Note on (Inter)Subjectivity 89
PART 3
Researching Consciousness and Practices of
Class in Sweden 95
5 The Findings of a Case Study on Consciousness
and Practices of Class in Sweden 97
5.1 Swedish Life Histories 97
5.2 Finnish Life Histories 127
5.3 Global South Immigrant Life Histories 150
5.4 Summary of Findings 171
6 Aiming for a Greater Understanding of Life in Sweden 174
6.1 Deploying Ethnography 174
6.2 Ethnographic Experience 176
6.3 Hanging Out 177
PART 4
Making Sense of Consciousness and Practices of
Social Class in Sweden 181
7 Developing an Explanatory Critique From Accounts
of Empirical Reality 183
7.1 Obscuring Inequality and Emerging Equity Perceptions 184
7.2 Elision and Perceptions of Feasibility 188
8 Concluding Remarks, Taking Stock, and Moving On 192
8.1 Refl ecting on the Critical Theoretical Framework and
Contemporary Sweden 192
8.2 Further Development: Possibilities and Limitations 195
References 199
Appendices 211
Appendix A: Swedish Social Democratic Hegemony 213
Appendix B: Email Exchange With a Swedish Industrial Relations Expert 219
Index 220
Preface and Foreword
Philosophers have only interpreted the world . . . the point, however, is to change it.
(Marx, 1969 [1845])
With a title that includes the words social class, Marx, and revolution, you
have probably come to this book with a certain expectation—that academic
scholarship ought to contribute to understanding, and that understanding is
for the purpose of building a momentum for transformative struggle. The
book has been written during a time of historically momentous develop-
ments. The 2008 capitalist crises triggered austerity policies in countries
with welfare regimes, and deepened neoliberalisation. Furthermore, the
decline in living standards have led to various populist far Right-wing move-
ments gaining political momentum in the USA and Europe. At the same
time, there is an urgency called from grass-roots movements for radical Left
alternatives to arise from this turmoil.
It is also likely that you have been intrigued by a book that covers Sweden
and social democracy. Sweden for many years has been held up as exemplifi ca-
tion par excellence that capitalism can co-exist with a high level of social fair-
ness. This social democratic ideal for some academics and activists represents
an alternative to the neoliberal capitalist status quo and provides optimism and
impetus for struggle. However, despite the widespread belief, or at least hope,
that Sweden shows a different way to organise society, Sweden is experiencing
a crisis of social democratic dominant hegemony with accelerated marketisa-
tion and populist Right-wing nationalism. This continued moment of transi-
tion frames Sweden as an interesting place to account for in discussions about
class, to heuristically think about strategies for change and alternatives.
This book’s aim is driven by Marxism, specifi cally the idea of struggle for
a more socialist world, and the importance of understanding social class as
a relational identity essential for neoliberal capitalism. This importance is
demonstrated in the idea that when people are conscious of class relations, as
existent and experienced as part of everyday life, the condition is created for
the possibility for active engagement in class struggle. This dialectical con-
nection between consciousness and practices of class constitutes the prob-
lematic that motivates this scholarship.