IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ecoind/v47y2026i3p676-696.html

The emergence of labour utopias: Solidarity, visibility and agency in the Swedish Municipal Workers’ Union strike

Author

Listed:
  • Kristin Linderoth

Abstract

In 2003, the Swedish Municipal Workers’ Union (Kommunal) called a nationwide strike, demanding a pay rise for all members in the public sector. Drawing on oral history interviews with workplace representatives and local union officials, the article examines how the struggle enabled changes in subjectivity, generating utopian visions for increased visibility and agency for municipal workers. This process is analysed using Rick Fantasia’s concept ‘cultures of solidarity’, highlighting the strike’s prefigurative dimensions. The article suggests that the study of strike action is a unique opportunity to explore how utopian visions of more egalitarian labour relations emerge among workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Kristin Linderoth, 2026. "The emergence of labour utopias: Solidarity, visibility and agency in the Swedish Municipal Workers’ Union strike," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 47(3), pages 676-696, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:47:y:2026:i:3:p:676-696
    DOI: 10.1177/0143831X251377314
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0143831X251377314
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0143831X251377314?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:47:y:2026:i:3:p:676-696. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ekhist.uu.se/english.htm .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.