Denna bok ger en bred introduktion till olika forskningsriktningar och problemområden inom det snabbt expanderande forskningsfältet ekonomisk sociologi. Vad betyder pengar i människors liv? Vilka roller och maktförhållanden präglar våra relationer på anonyma marknader? Hur ska vi förstå relationen mellan stat och ekonomi, och vilken roll spelar arbetstagar- och arbetsgivarparterna respektive de politiska organisationerna för hur denna relation utformas? Hur fungerar den globala kapitalismen och vilken roll spelar konsumismens kultur och motkulturer? Finns det olika vägar till en såväl ekologiskt som ekonomiskt hållbar utveckling? Många är de frågor omkring vårt samhälle som samtidigt är sociologiskt relevanta och ekonomiskt relaterade. Denna bok ger en bred introduktion till olika forskningsriktningar och problemområden inom det snabbt expanderande forskningsfältet ekonomisk sociologi. Som lärobok kan den användas såväl inom undervisning vid kurser i sociologi, som i närliggande discipliner med intresse för samspelet mellan ekonomi och samhälle.

This article highlights the importance of organizational resources and individual capabilities for interactions and relationships among social partners in European sectoral social dialogue committees (SSDCs). We use an actor-centred approach to investigate work programme setting in the hospital and metalworking SSDCs. Our research reveals differences in how European social partner organizations coordinate and integrate members in SSDCs. In hospital, European Union (EU)-social partners build bridges that span otherwise separate actors or groups. The findings suggest that the absence of bridging efforts can lead to the dominance of a few actors. In metalworking, small cohesive groups are more effective in forming close networks and determining work programmes. While work programmes in hospital represent issues which are on national agendas, in metalworking, they focus mainly on EU policy areas.

Traditional approaches in the wide field of employment relations focused on a small and clearly delineated set of actors, such as trade unions and employers’ organizations, operating within the constraints given by formal, nationally confined institutions. It is becoming increasingly clear that traditional approaches are insufficiently able to account for employment relations processes and outcomes in a world wherein formal institutions are being rapidly transformed and partially dissolved, national boundaries become porous, and the sheer number of actors involved is increasing substantially. A shift in perspective is necessary, past the nationally bounded actor-institution dichotomy, towards an understanding of employment relations as fundamentally mediated by complex and emergent networks that connect a multitude of actors within and between countries.

This volume provides a seminal starting point for such a paradigm shift by applying theories and methodologies from social network analysis to the study of employment relations. It develops a theoretical toolkit of mechanisms that operate within networks and shape employment relations processes and outcomes, such as wages, labour market policies and labour conflicts. It brings together insights from various projects that investigate the structure, functioning and impact of networks in employment relations through quantitative and qualitative methods. It will be of particular interest to students and scholars of employment relations across business and management, economics, political science, and sociology disciplines, as well as those interested in social networks. Managers, trade unions, employers’ organizations and state authorities at national and international levels will find it helpful in understanding how networks shape their world.

In this article, we discuss ‘classical’ sociology and ‘new’ economic sociology to show the interest of sociologists in economic issues and to examine the relationship between economics and sociology from a sociological perspective. We maintain that, besides empirical studies, sociologists have contributed to the analysis of economic systems, organisations, and action through the development of theoretical approaches to answer two basic questions: Why are the neoclassical assumptions about action problematic? And how are rational economic actions and systems produced? Sociologists have worked on three frontiers to answer these questions. First, by developing a more nuanced action theory. Second, by elaborating the concept of embeddedness to capture how economic action is influenced by cognitive, cultural, structural, and political contexts. Third, by understanding the historical differentiation and rationalisation of institutions and action contexts that produces instrumental rationality.

This article examines a general trend towards the ‘decentring’ of the policing of economic and white-collar crime in Sweden in recent decades. As a theoretical point of departure, we discuss how the ‘decentred policing’ concept can link the theoretical approaches of regulation and policing studies. We then analyse five empirical cases in which private actors have been given duties and incentives to report others’ crimes, in order to give a detailed account of the expansion and effects of the decentring of business and finance policing. The five cases concern the policing of bankruptcy crimes, money laundering, company management crimes, market abuse and insider dealings, and illegal cartels. The article ends by discussing some possible causes and consequences of this tendency.

Teorier och begrepp är viktiga inom all vetenskap, inte minst i en samhällsvetenskap som sociologin. I Sociologiska perspektiv ges en heltäckande introduktion i allmänsociologiska teorier och begrepp. Boken är tematiskt upplagd, och tar med läsaren på en vandring från samhällets små skeenden till dess stora och övergripande sammanhang – från enskilda individers handlingar till samhällsföreteelser av global utbredning. I boken behandlas inledningsvis frågan om vad samhällsteori är. Därefter redogör författarna för olika teoretiska perspektiv på ett antal grundläggande samhällsteoretiska problem. Bokens olika delar behandlar i tur och ordning hur sociologer teoretiskt betraktar: aktörer och handlingsocial interaktionorganisering av samhandlingsamhällets skiktningmodernitet och globalisering Sociologiska perspektiv är lämplig för introduktionskurser i sociologi och samhällsteori, men kan även användas för en översiktlig orientering på fördjupande teorimoment.

This open access book discusses transnational trade union cooperation in Europe – its forms, focuses, conditions, and obstacles. It provides an overview of existing trade union cooperation and includes detailed analyses of two specific questions: the debates on statutory minimum wages and the Posting of Workers Directive. Drawing on empirical research, the authors take a comparative approach, considering national industrial relations regimes as well as individual sectors. With the ongoing processes of integration in Europe, it has become increasingly important for unions to cooperate with regard to employers and EU institutions. The authors illustrate the interconnections between national and European industrial relations, and explore the process of European integration in labour markets. Illustrating the potential for and difficulties involved in deepening trade union cooperation across Europe, this work is a vital read for trade unionists, researchers and students interested in European trade unionism and labour markets.

This article looks at the hospital European Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee (SSDC) through a Communityof Practice (CoP) theoretical lens. Based on a 2‐year project, qualitative in‐depth interviews at the European level and in five Member states, and participant observation of the hospital SSDC, we propose a shift from traditional institutional andresource‐based accounts and provide a learning and knowledge‐focused understanding of this specific area of European industrial relations. Interpreting the SSDCs as a CoP sheds new light on the role of power relations, participation and informal activities among members and on how they work together;this, we find, can alert those interested in more effective functioning of the European Sectoral Social Dialogue on how to strengthen this supra‐national level of industrial relations.

This paper analyzes the political and professional battle over auditors' crime-controlling responsibilities in Sweden. The focus is on the discursive strategies of major actor-constellations during 1965–2000. The conclusion is that the duty enacted in 1999 to report suspicions of crime, like earlier attempts in this direction, was not a reaction to major frauds or scandals but a part of broader social-democratic policies during the period: to develop industrial democracy, to fight economic crime, and to improve economic markets.

This dissertation is a case study of the Swedish banking crisis in the early 1990s. It also treats general theoretical questions of the relation between the economy and society. The aim of the study is to give an account of interpretations of the banking crisis in public discourse, and of the societal attempts to steer the credit market by way of public opinion, political-administrative and legal means. The dissertation is divided into two parts, corresponding to the two aims. The focus of the first part is on interpretive disagreements over crisis-definitions, causal explanations and policy-packages. The account is based on a computer-aided qualitative analysis of 342 editorials/articles published during 1990-1995, supplemented with secondary sources. The main conclusion is that five competing interpretive packages dominated the public debate. In the beginning the scope of the crisis and the critique against the banks were rejected in a downgrading package and a defence package, advocated by the authorities, experts and the banks. These packages were later replaced by a market-critical fairness/ moral package and two variants of a market-advocating efficiency/functional package. Advocates of the former were actors from the political left, framing problems, causal explanations, and policy recommendations in resonance with traditional social democratic policy and radical political economy. Behind the latter stood the political centre-right politicians/editors, the banks, and economists, framing their interpretations in resonance with neoclassical economics and political neoliberalism. The focus of the second part is on the reactions to the crisis among the public and the customers, and within the administrative, legal and political systems. The analysis is based on media documents, survey data, official reports and committee reports from the Swedish parliament. In conclusion, the reactions in the political system corresponded to the antagonisms of the debate, with the centre-right parties advocating a pro-market policy in conflict with a more interventionist stance from the radical left and green parties, and with the social democrats in the middle. The public reaction comprised a loss of confidence and an increase in consumer organisation, and the media representations of public opinion were articulated mainly through the market-critical stance with strong political and moral indignation due to a lack of adequate administrative and legal sanctions against the banks. The analysis also confirmed that the legal processes met with considerable difficulties, which gave rise to “legal-offensive” claims from politicians and authorities. These were met, however, by more “defensive” claims from the official commission investigating the legal framework of the credit market, advocating a system of enforced and supervised self-regulation. A central conclusion was that the conflicts concerned not only the political dimension left– right, but also the opposition between system-integrative functional perspectives and those representing claims based on the social-integrative principles of the “life world” (morals and solidarity).

This article discusses how large lottery winnings are experienced and used by the winners. The study draws on a survey of 420 Swedish winners, which is analyzed against the background of previous research from the USA and Europe. The analyses show that winners are cautious about realizing any dreams of becoming someone else somewhere else. This result contradicts theories suggesting that identities are being liquefied by the commercially driven consumer culture in affluent Western societies. In contrast, the article concludes that winners generally try to stay much the same, but on a somewhat higher level of consumption. The critical situation that large winnings produce is generally met by an attempt to hold on to one’s identity and social relations. In addition, the article shows that lump sum winners tend to save and invest large parts of their winnings, compared with winners of monthly installments who are more likely to spend on leisure and consumption. These results indicate that “wild” lump sums make winners “tame” their winnings more firmly, whereas “domesticated” monthly instalments can be spent more thoughtlessly without changing identity or becoming an unfortunate winner.

This article focuses on cultural difficulties in trade union cooperation and transnationalization in Europe. The aim is to understand cultural differences that are seen as obstacles to cooperation by trade union representatives with transnational work experience from the ETUC and ETUFs. The theoretical inspiration for this work comes from the sociological variant of neo-institutionalism and organization theory, as well as from existing approaches in industrial relations and trade union research. The empirical analysis is based on 38 interviews with 46 representatives from trade unions from nine European countries. The findings point to problems arising because of language and translation issues, differences in cultural conceptions, values and everyday practices, and dif-ferences in trade union traditions, ideologies and identitie

This article explores the emotional regime of case handling of  debt relief at the Swedish Enforcement Authority (SEA). The study analyses how emotion management and emotional display are justified by ‘being professional’ in interviews with SEA staff, revealing that this bureaucratic emotional regime is multidimensional and encompasses four different logics, which are connected to four central relational contexts of case handling. The staff justify and perform a style of ‘affective neutrality’ in the context of law, ‘loyal productivity’ in relation to NPM policies, ‘empathetic respectfulness’ in relation to debtors and an ‘authoritative and business-like’ style in relation to creditors.

Welfare professional decision-making has been at the centre of two debates over the past decade in Sweden. On the one hand, the balance between NPM and trust/discretion has been debated in relation to the so called “trust reform”. On the other, both hopes and fears have been discussed regarding the possibility to replace professionals with automated AI-based decision-making. This paper presents one of several case studies from a project studying the actual balance in practical welfare professional work between discretion and “programming” of decisions in terms of rules and instructions, process maps and software programs. The case in focus is the execution/foreclosure (verkställighet/utmätning) process at the Swedish Enforcement Authority (Kronofogden). The study is based on interviews with staff working on the cases, documents guiding the work, and instances of contextual inquiry – in which case officers show their work process through interfaces with digital systems. Besides describing the context for case handling, this paper will try to theorize how decisions are taken (individually vs. collectively; at one point in time vs. in processes), to what extent principles (e.g. law and rules) and programs (e.g. software and information systems) delimit different aspects of discretion, and how digitalization is performed from both above and below (i.e., the extent to which input and “appification” of digital help systems trickle down from the central organisational management vs. to what extent they are initiated and adjusted at local levels).

Syftet med kapitlet är att förstå hur kulturella skillnader påverkar det gränsöverskri-dande fackliga samarbetet i Europa. Fokus är på hur sådana skillnader uppfattas ur svenska fackföreningsrepresentanters perspektiv, och vilka svårigheter dessa skapar för transnationellt fackligt samarbete. Materialmässigt bygger kapitlets första del på en enkätundersökning till fackföreningar i 14 länder och centralorganisationer över hela Europa.1 Därefter följer en kvalitativ analys av åtta intervjuer från 2014-2015. I intervjuerna deltog elva centralt placerade representanter för sju svenska och ett nor-diskt fackförbund verksamma inom fem branscher: byggnadssektorn, metallsektorn, transportsektorn, hälso- och sjukvårdssektorn, samt bank- och finanssektorn.

This article gives an account of the interpretative conflicts and re-regulative initiatives that followed the Swedish banking crisis in the 1990s. The analysis is based on systems theory and theories of governance conceptualizing steering and self-regulation. It shows the polycontextuality of the conflicts over the crisis, and how the re-regulation articulated central aspects of neo-liberal government, as conceptualized in terms of governance. The conclusion discusses two paradoxes. The first is that the enforced self-regulation of the re-regulative process 'frees' market actors by embedding them in new webs of governance. The second paradox is that every solution to a problematic event of this kind is at the same time seen as a new problem when observed with distinctions other than the one reduced by the solution.

This article analyses obstacles to transnational union cooperation within Europe. It is based on a survey of unions in 14 European countries and all members of the European Trade Union Confederation. The result shows that ‘hard’ industrial relations factors are generally more important obstacles to transnational cooperation than ‘softer’ factors such as cultural, linguistic, ideological and religious differences and that there are sectoral differences in experiences of obstacles to transnational union cooperation: unions in the manufacturing sector tend to emphasise differences in industrial relations and a lack of organisational resources for transnational union cooperation, whereas low organisational priorities are held to be of more importance in the services sector and for unions for professional workers.

This paper analyzes the duty of external auditors in Swedish joint stock corporations to report suspicions of crime to the public prosecutor. The focus is on the auditors’ experiences since the enactment in 1999. First the background, purpose and critique of the legislation are described, and analyzed with regulation theory. Thereafter follows an investigation of the effects of the legislation. Empirically, the analyses are based on official documents as well as primary data from a postal inquiry survey and secondary data from previous interview studies. The analyses show that the consequences of the legislation concern the auditors’ professional self-identity rather than their client relations. The decrease in client trust feared by the profession did not come about. The legal effect of the reform is ambiguous. On the one hand, there are indications that the legislation is disarmed by some auditors through a “creative compliance”. On the other hand the survey demonstrates a widespread “responsive” utilization of the duty, making it a useful complement to other crime control.

This paper addresses professionalization with a focus on trust, rather than on issues of power and competition. It contains a conceptual analysis of trust/confidence, as well as a case study of the professionalization of external auditing in Sweden. The conceptual analysis discusses the “time-binding” aspect of trust/confidence, and the significance of social control mechanisms related to “persons”, “roles”, “values” and “programs” for creating and sustaining trust/confidence. The case study focuses on the role of trust/confidence for the organization and professionalization of external auditing in Sweden, and in particular on the ways in which trust in auditors and auditing have been stabilized. The latter issue is dealt with through a discussion attempting to capture a historic displacement in three dimensions: from reliance on the auditor’spersonal reliability, to trust in the professional role; from trust in the individual discretion of certain persons to trust in the regulation of auditing as a standardized program; and finally, from trust in the values represented by individual auditors to trust in the institutionalized professional values.

This article discusses one particular aspect of the cosmopolitanization of childhood by analyzing children’s ‘eco-edutainment’ books, giving advice on how to save the world from environmental catastrophe. Its purpose is to analyze how such books articulate and spread ‘eco-knowledge’, encouraging children to become environmentally aware world citizens. The analysis shows that these books urge children and pre-teens not only to become self-disciplined and caring, ethical ‘ecological selves’, but also to partake in producing local eco-knowledge and monitoring ecodiscipline in their families, schools and local communities. The interconnection of problems, blame, possibilities, responsibilities, commitment and tactics and techniques made in these books articulates a persuasive and potentially mobilizing discourse. By simultaneously empowering the children, stimulating their cosmopolitical commitment and suggesting certain techniques and tactics for improving their families’ and schools’ environmental performances, these books encourage children to identify with a duty of becoming cosmopolitical problem solvers.

This paper analyzes what channels trade unions in Europe use when trying to influence European Union (EU) policies. It compares and contrasts trade unions in different industrial relations regimes with regard to the degree to which they cooperate with different actors to influence EU policies, while also touching on the importance of sector differences and organizational resources. The study is based on survey data collected in 2010–2011 from unions affiliated with the European Trade Union Confederation and from below peak unions in 14 European countries. Results of the survey show that the ‘national route’ is generally the most important for trade unions in influencing EU policies in the sense that this channel is, on average, used to the highest degree. In addition, the survey delineates some important differences between trade unions in different industrial relations regimes with regard to the balance between the national route and different access points in the ‘Brussels route’.

 Research on European trade unionism has discussed whether the tendency towards ‘union diplomacy’ has meant that that unions are largely disinterested in mobilizing members and pursue contentious action at the European level. Other studies have identified activities that suggest an Europeanization of political mobilization, in demonstrations and strikes and in cooperation with NGOs and social movements. The present paper analyzes attitudes towards transnational action among trade unions in Europe, as well as the degree to which national unions actually partake in more and less contentious action. The study, which is based on a survey to trade unions in Europe carried out in 201011 (n 250), focuses particularly on the production of joint statements and petitions, demonstrations and boycotts, and strikes. The aim was to identify the similarities and differences between industrial relations regimes and sectors in Europe and the analyses have revealed that there are in fact significant differences. Trade unions in the continental social partnership regime and the southern polarized/state centered regime tend to approve of and partake in European demonstrations and boycotts to a higher degree than unions in the other regimes, while the Nordic unions in the organized corporatist regime tend to be more skeptical and also participate to a lower degree. In addition, unions in services and organizing professionals tend to partake and approve of such action to a lower degree than unions in other sectors and national peak level unions.

This paper studies client trust in professionals, theoretically and empirically. The theoretical elaboration, founded on general sociological theories of trust, aims to distinguish different dimensions of trust – personal, impersonal, and process trust – and to explicate the stabilizing identities and control mechanisms on which they are based: persons, roles, programs and values. The empirical case study concerns what aspects of trust, and what expectations and controls, are most important for Swedish auditors when it comes to building and maintaining client trust. The analysis is based on data from a postal inquiry survey in 2003. It shows that practicing auditors experience the personal dimension of trust as primary, the processual as secondary, and the impersonal as tertiary. The study thus confirms the importance of personal trust between auditor and client, stabilized by the professional's individual character and conduct, but points also to the fact that the institutionalization of distrust in professional roles, programs and values is central for building personal as well as impersonal trust. The institutionalized roles, programs and values of the profession ensure that a minimum of trust from the market and the client is present before personal trust is established.

This article discusses children as contributors to sustainable ecological development. The aim of the article is to develop a framework for researching two questions: What are the prerequisites for children to become responsible environmentalists? What actual and potential influence do children have on their family’s consumption? Three theoretical perspectives are elaborated in relation to relevant empirical research: children as cosmopolitan actors and world citizens, children as ‘subjects of responsibilization’ in relation to the discourse on sustainable development and children as actors influencing family negotiations about consumption. The article concludes by suggesting methodological implications that follow from this framework.

This article analyzes how Nordic trade unions cooperate with unions in Europe, and what actors and organizations they cooperate with to influence EU policies. We examine both similarities and differences between the Nordic countries and between unions in different sectors, and make some comparisons with unions in other European countries. As a background, we first present the Nordic model(s) of industrial relations, and some important national and sectoral differences. Thereafter follows an analysis based on a survey carried out in 2010-11. The results show strong similarities between the Nordic countries regarding transnational union cooperation and union action, but also that there is greater diversity between sectors than between countries. The internationally exposed manufacturing sector is the most engaged in transnational cooperation, followed by the construction industry. The more sheltered services sector has a somewhat lower degree of cooperation, and the professional/academic unions are the least engaged. This implies that, besides variation between countries, variation between sectors must be taken into account when analyzing the existence of a common Nordic approach to transnational cooperation.

Since the 1980s Sweden has experienced a transformation of the ways in which economic markets and public services are steered, regulated and controlled. In many areas this change was initiated through deregulations. The underlying political logic was neo-liberally inspired, in the assumption that state production is less efficient and that state intervention hampers market efficiency (Svensson 2001). As is well known today, however, the concept of deregulation used in the 1980s and 90s was somewhat misleading. In most cases there was rather a process of re-regulation. In Sweden, as in many other countries, politically intervening regulations were substituted by a new set of market constituting regulations. In some cases deregulation even resulted in a more complex system of regulations.

Denna bok ger en första introduktion till studiet av social kontroll. Den tar upp såväl teoretiska perspektiv som konkreta exempel på hur social kontroll utövas inom områden som skola och kamratgrupper, arbetsliv och ekonomi samt polis och kriminalvård. Som lärobok kan den användas på grundläggande nivå i sociologi, kriminologi, socialpsykologi, socialt arbete eller närliggande ämnen med intresse för hur människor övervakas, styrs och anpassar sig till omgivningens förväntningar.

Drawing on pragmatism and systems theory, this article analyses how participants in the European Sectoral Social Dialogue in the metal and hospital committees understand its effectiveness. We find that the participants have a broad understanding of effectiveness compared with the European Commission and existing research. Participants do not dismiss the importance of direct effects on working conditions in member states but downplay it in comparison with indirect effects from, and effectiveness in, European Sectoral Social Dialogue. That is, horizontal learning, knowledge sharing and pragmatic bottom‐up work to reach consensus are emphasised as more prominent than top‐down regulatory effectiveness.

European industrial relations are strongly articulated in a multilevel structure connecting local, sectoral, national, and European organisational levels and dialogue between trade unions and employers. An important aspect of the functioning of such multilevel governance and dialogue systems is the communicative articulation between levels. This study sets out to explore to what extent communication concerning health and safety issues takes place in the sectors of hospitals/healthcare and social assistance/elderly care. We focus in particular on aspects of disarticulation between levels – or rather, impediments in the communicative flow in the existing articulated system – here conceptualized as instances of decoupling. Empirically the study is based on interviews with trade union officials and representatives for employer associations placed at the sectoral and/or national level in six countries (IT, DE, LT, UK, PL, SE). That is, the point of departure for the analysis is the experiences of the actors at the mid-levels in this multilevel system. Thematically, the study explores to what extent information and influence from lower levels are received and used at higher levels, and to what extent decisions/regulations and support/guidance/tools from higher levels are received and implemented and/or used at lower levels. Through this country comparative case study-analysis, based on a selection of country context that aims to maximise variation of industrial relations regimes, we thus aim to capture both recurrent and more country specific problems created through the decoupling of communication on H & S in these two sectors – against the background of institutional divergencies between national contexts.