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The changing meaning of wage bargaining in Sweden since the 1960s: A contextual approach to shifts in industrial relations

Bengtsson, Erik LU (2026) In Economic and Industrial Democracy p.1-20
Abstract
Sweden is renowned for its centralised wage bargaining system, which has been studied from the point of view of inflation, wage differentials and unemployment. This article studies media coverage of wage bargaining rounds in the 1950s–1960s and in the 2000s–2010s to investigate the social understanding of what the wage bargaining institutions are supposed to do. The results indicate that the operation of the wage bargaining system in the 2000s and of that in the postwar era are in fact understood very differently: while widely shared aims for wage bargaining rounds in the 1950s and 1960s were to a high degree formulated by the trade unions, trade union influence over the agenda was significantly weaker in the 2000s and 2010s, when external... (More)
Sweden is renowned for its centralised wage bargaining system, which has been studied from the point of view of inflation, wage differentials and unemployment. This article studies media coverage of wage bargaining rounds in the 1950s–1960s and in the 2000s–2010s to investigate the social understanding of what the wage bargaining institutions are supposed to do. The results indicate that the operation of the wage bargaining system in the 2000s and of that in the postwar era are in fact understood very differently: while widely shared aims for wage bargaining rounds in the 1950s and 1960s were to a high degree formulated by the trade unions, trade union influence over the agenda was significantly weaker in the 2000s and 2010s, when external experts, not least from the financial sector, were to a much higher degree used to define and formulate what good bargaining outcomes would be. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
in
Economic and Industrial Democracy
pages
1 - 20
publisher
SAGE Publications
ISSN
0143-831X
DOI
10.1177/0143831X261441179
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a21c16f5-7ce7-4cfa-b669-21caf70fb476
date added to LUP
2026-04-17 17:51:27
date last changed
2026-04-20 09:16:28
@article{a21c16f5-7ce7-4cfa-b669-21caf70fb476,
  abstract     = {{Sweden is renowned for its centralised wage bargaining system, which has been studied from the point of view of inflation, wage differentials and unemployment. This article studies media coverage of wage bargaining rounds in the 1950s–1960s and in the 2000s–2010s to investigate the social understanding of what the wage bargaining institutions are supposed to do. The results indicate that the operation of the wage bargaining system in the 2000s and of that in the postwar era are in fact understood very differently: while widely shared aims for wage bargaining rounds in the 1950s and 1960s were to a high degree formulated by the trade unions, trade union influence over the agenda was significantly weaker in the 2000s and 2010s, when external experts, not least from the financial sector, were to a much higher degree used to define and formulate what good bargaining outcomes would be.}},
  author       = {{Bengtsson, Erik}},
  issn         = {{0143-831X}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  pages        = {{1--20}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Economic and Industrial Democracy}},
  title        = {{The changing meaning of wage bargaining in Sweden since the 1960s: A contextual approach to shifts in industrial relations}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0143831X261441179}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/0143831X261441179}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}