Vart tar politiken vägen? : om individualisering, reflexivitet och görbarhet i det politiska engagemanget

The aim of this study is to provide a picture of how political commitments have changed in Sweden during the last five decades This is done by drawing on previous scholarship and theoretically interpreted life course interviews with individuals born in one of three decades, who were also members of one of two Swedish unions (CEU, The Swedish Commercial Employee Union and TU, the Swedish Teachers Union). The theoretical concepts individualization, reflexivity and makeability are used as analytical categories for the interpretations. In the dissertation it is shown that, to the interviewees, politics has increasingly become something that the individual is interested in taking active part in her- or himself. This altered perception is described in terms of a growing individualization of the political agent. Further, a growing reflexivity regarding political matters and methods can be detected, making it more difficult to know both what is the problem, and how one might act politically to make a difference. This development, towards an individualized political commitment in combination with the increasing reflexivity, is interpreted in terms of a growing political makeability. Politics has gradually come to be perceived by the interviewees as open for participation and questioning. This makeability is, however, ambiguous. On the one hand it is possible and necessary to act politically, on the other hand not much is being done. Also, several of the CEU members express a double feeling of being marginalized in a system in which everyone is in principle invited. Using everyday life as a way to participate in politics is one way out of this somewhat troubling situation. Both the interviewees from the CEU and the TU see environmental politics of the everyday life as an area where it is possible to contribute politically in a manner they consider necessary and efficient. This way, political commitments are partly moving away from the arena of social movements and political parties. Instead, daily life has become a more important political arena