"Vi får faktiskt försöka skärpa oss allihopa och jobba med vår tolerans": Ett klassperspektiv på Lena Anderssons Var det bra så?

The stated aim of building the Swedish welfare state ("Folkhemmet") was to develop a modern society that contained equality between social classes. Interestingly, though, class inequalities still exist but have become obscured by an endeavour to reach cultural recognition with a particular focus on multiculturalism. This paper seeks to demonstrate the production and reproduction of class inequalities in Lena Andersson's novel Var det bra så?. Nancy Fraser's theory of redistribution and recognition is used to highlight the complexity and intersection of culture, ethnicity, gender and class. In that context, it is claimed that class inequalities have to be separated from cultural discrimination when the aim is to examine the establishment of social inequalities. Fraser argues that socio-economic segregation has to be seen in the light of economic and cultural inequalities as being two separate phenomena, even though they clearly are interrelated. Var det bra så? is here viewed as a critique of the Swedish welfare state ("Folkhemmet") as a political concept. The novel depicts how the focus on and belief in multiculturalism as central for the development of society has entailed a marginalization and culturalization of class.