Fattigsveriges skugga

Sammanfattning: FATTIGSVERIGE SKUGGA is a study of public discourse on class differences, poverty and social exclusion in Sweden during different time periods, in relation to the socio-economic context and its changes over time. Main object of the study are Ludvig Nordströms ”Lort-Sverige” (1938), Göran Skyttes ”De rika och deras skatter” (1979) and Kristian Lundbergs, ”Det här är inte mitt land” (2014). In order to broaden the understanding of current attitudes, the study also view A) two antagonistic newspaper articles on recent development of low wage earners, B) a Facebook discussion about the concept of class, and C) a debate surrounding the critical probe by the TV-show Uppdrag Granskning 2013 of child poverty campaigns by childrens rights institutions. The method in use is discourse analysis, with a critical realist foundation, accomplished by setting the discourse in a socio-economical context, in order to track to what extent public discourse reflect the actual changes of the knowledge society, with its increasingly different dimensions of class differences and struggle over privileges. Results show that public and media discourse regarding class differences and marginalization tend to either show signs of confusion, or to rely on industry-era problematization, in the face of the mounting multi-dimensional postmaterialistic challenges.