Frihet genom arbete eller frihet från arbete? : arbetskritik och lönearbetets hegemoniska diskurser

Sammanfattning: Title: Freedom through labor or freedom from labor? Labor-critique and the hegemonic discourses of labor This study is a critical discourse analysis of Frihetsförmedlingen – a contemporary Swedish project which takes a critical stand against labor markets in their current form. The study focuses on identifying and analyzing the labor-critical discourses in this project, what is being criticized within these discourses and, furthermore, how labor, labor-critique, freedom and lack of freedom is discussed and presented within and around the project. A premiss of the study is the notion that the labormarket and the Swedish ”work strategy” – arbetslinjen – enjoys a strong hegemonic position in the Swedish society today. In the analysis it is found that a kind of reversed discourse, reflecting and parodizing hegemonical labor discourse, is utilized by Frihetsförmedlingen as a strategy of resistance. Their labor critique is also found to be inspired by academic discourse and, furthermore, aimed at consensus rather than conflict with the hegemonic political discourse. Within the dominant labor discourse the labor critique is portrayed as obsolete and taking part in the labor market is considered a moral obligation. Because of the large difference in the premisses of these two discourses they seem to have a hard time meeting or at least establishing any form of constructive dialogue – one stressing freedom as attainable by joining the labor market and the other advocating freedom from the very same.