Från arbetare till arbetarklass : Klassformering och klassrelationer i Fagersta - ett mellansvenskt brukssamhälle ca 1870-1909

Sammanfattning: The dissertation addresses the problem of the formation of an industrial working class. This is a concrete historical process in which the workers themselves are the main subjects.In the iron-works community of Fagersta the early popular movements (rather than unions) played a more direct and important role in the class-formation than normaly appreciated, especially the Temperance lodges and the Franchise movement. Due to the highly polarised society, these organisations were dominated by proletarian groups and totaly lacked members even slightly associated with the ruling elite. The class formation was further facilitated by common interests the members shared as being in one way or another dominated by Fagersta bruk; by the extremely rapid growth and transformation of both society and production, causing a need for a new social and moral context, and by the conspicuous economical and political power of the Fagersta bruk.The social unrest and its negative effects on working-discipline, combined with the growing economic values at stake and the fear of socialism, caused the iron works employers to form one of the first employers organisations in Sweden and, as shown in Fagersta, to develop a new managerial policy, industrial paternalism. To a great deal this policy was constructed upon the real or alleged paternal relations of the past. The purpose was to neutralise the negative consequences of the disintegration of the old society, including the former social and economic relationships between workers and employers.Also, the different phases of working class culture played a formative role in shaping the new class-relations and the industrial working-class itself.