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From community building to commodity production : the political economy of the Swedish housing and building industry

Kifokeris, Dimosthenis ; Ahlstrand, Rasmus LU ; Chan, Elton and Faxberg, Greta (2026) In Journal of Housing and the Built Environment
Abstract
The Swedish building industry has been going through a neoliberal transformation from
community building to commodity production. In this article, we employ mixed-methods
research aiming at addressing what this structural transformation entails and what its (adverse) effects may be. Based on a contemporary historical materialist approach, we draw
on the principal contradiction in the labor theory of value and the respective contradictions
in housing commodification and production fragmentation to conceptualize an integrated
framework (referred to as a triaxial threat space), which we then situate in the sociohistorical context of the Swedish building industry. Finally, we employ this framework
and demonstrate how... (More)
The Swedish building industry has been going through a neoliberal transformation from
community building to commodity production. In this article, we employ mixed-methods
research aiming at addressing what this structural transformation entails and what its (adverse) effects may be. Based on a contemporary historical materialist approach, we draw
on the principal contradiction in the labor theory of value and the respective contradictions
in housing commodification and production fragmentation to conceptualize an integrated
framework (referred to as a triaxial threat space), which we then situate in the sociohistorical context of the Swedish building industry. Finally, we employ this framework
and demonstrate how the structural transformation from community building to commodity production is threatening the famed Swedish high-road model, leading, among others,
to labor deskilling and exploitation, lower productivity, and production quality issues.
We also posit that these phenomena are exacerbated when moving towards the extremes
of fully exploiting labor for profit, universally commodifying housing production, and
completely fragmenting production through multilayered subcontracting. Our contributions include integrating relevant scholarship into a coherent framework for understanding
transformations in housing production and labor relations in Sweden, as well as linking
labor degradation and the potential collapse of high-road production with the gradual
change in the political economy of Swedish construction. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
in
Journal of Housing and the Built Environment
pages
27 pages
publisher
Springer
ISSN
1573-7772
DOI
10.1007/s10901-026-10335-0
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
4322a887-9571-4731-8a7e-4026821cd8d1
date added to LUP
2026-08-30 14:13:12
date last changed
2026-08-31 13:39:52
@article{4322a887-9571-4731-8a7e-4026821cd8d1,
  abstract     = {{The Swedish building industry has been going through a neoliberal transformation from<br/>community building to commodity production. In this article, we employ mixed-methods<br/>research aiming at addressing what this structural transformation entails and what its (adverse) effects may be. Based on a contemporary historical materialist approach, we draw<br/>on the principal contradiction in the labor theory of value and the respective contradictions<br/>in housing commodification and production fragmentation to conceptualize an integrated<br/>framework (referred to as a triaxial threat space), which we then situate in the sociohistorical context of the Swedish building industry. Finally, we employ this framework<br/>and demonstrate how the structural transformation from community building to commodity production is threatening the famed Swedish high-road model, leading, among others,<br/>to labor deskilling and exploitation, lower productivity, and production quality issues.<br/>We also posit that these phenomena are exacerbated when moving towards the extremes<br/>of fully exploiting labor for profit, universally commodifying housing production, and<br/>completely fragmenting production through multilayered subcontracting. Our contributions include integrating relevant scholarship into a coherent framework for understanding<br/>transformations in housing production and labor relations in Sweden, as well as linking<br/>labor degradation and the potential collapse of high-road production with the gradual<br/>change in the political economy of Swedish construction.}},
  author       = {{Kifokeris, Dimosthenis and Ahlstrand, Rasmus and Chan, Elton and Faxberg, Greta}},
  issn         = {{1573-7772}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{08}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Journal of Housing and the Built Environment}},
  title        = {{From community building to commodity production : the political economy of the Swedish housing and building industry}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/259424013/Kifokeris_D._Ahlstrand_R._Chan_E._Faxberg_G._2026_From_Community_building_to_commodity_production.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s10901-026-10335-0}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}