During the last decades many countries all around the world have been the subject to a market-turn, characterized by privatizations and deregulations of economies, commonly referred to as “neoliberalization”. This is not only marked by structural “reforms” of economies, but also in terms of an increasing emphasis on people’s entrepreneurship, activity, positive thinking, flexibility, health and responsibility for their “employability” and general social and economic “success”. As a result, such phenomena as unemployment, poor health and poverty have increasingly come to be seen as the result of personal shortcomings, rather than the effect of some structural problems. In this presentation I will suggest how the neoliberalization in Sweden, a country traditionally known for its social-democracy and emphasis on equality between classes, has been propelled by those institutions that are closely related to the nation’s economic and financial elites. My data comes from my research of three of Sweden’s most prominent elite institutions: (a) The affluent neighborhood Djursholm, founded in 1889 by the banker Henrik Palme, where the country’s most wealthy families live today (Holmqvist, 2017); (b) The elite business school The Stockholm School of Economics, founded in 1909 by the financial dynasty Wallenberg, and where most of the Sweden’s future leaders in business and politics are educated (Holmqvist, 2022); and (c) Sweden’s head of state and foremost symbol since he was coronated in 1973, King Carl XVI Gustaf (Holmqvist, 2023). The three study objects offer a prism through which one can understand how contemporary elites in Sweden are consecrated against a background of neoliberalism, and how they act to consecrate this ideology, thus reproducing their social and economic resources, privileges and standing.
Mikael Holmqvist is professor of business administration and associate professor of sociology at Stockholm University. His latest books are Kungen – Sveriges ledare (Natur & Kultur, 2023), Universities under Neoliberalism (edited with Mats Benner, Routledge, 2023), Elite Business Schools (Routledge, 2022) and Leader Communities (Columbia University Press, 2017). He has published broadly in sociology, e.g., in British Journal of Sociology, Work, Employment and Society, The Sociological Review and Theory and Society.