Isens herrar, mellanhänder och drängar : en studie om klassmedvetandet och dess föränderlighet under expeditioner till Svalbard runt sekelskiftet 1900

Sammanfattning

This study aims to advance the understanding of class consciousness and its changeability during Swedish expeditions to Svalbard at the turn of the twentieth century. Drawing on diaries written by two participants who took part in expeditions to the High Arctic, the study explores the class consciousness of individuals occupying intermediate class positions within the class structure, but also why and how it changed over time. The analysis is organised thematically around the diarists’ accounts of their material limitations, spatial and social constraints, and labour. The theoretical framework consists of a model that synthesises the class theories of E. P. Thompson and Erik Olin Wright. The model explains how control over resources and exploitation of labour generated class experiences through conflict, while also explaining how and why the diary writers shifted between different class interests over time. The study draws on the diaries of Axel Stake, who participated in Andrée’s Arctic expedition of 1896 and 1897, and Frans Oscar Carlson, who took part in the Swedish–Russian Arc-of-Meridian Expedition of 1899–1900. The development of their class consciousness followed two distinct trajectories, but both closely correlated with changes in their work assignments and the class structure. Stake underwent a gradual renegotiation of his class consciousness, increasingly aligning himself with the interests of the expedition leadership, as he assumed greater authority over the labour process. Carlson’s class consciousness shifted from aligning with the interests of the leadership to aligning with the class interests of the labourers due to the loss of his position as a petty officer during the overwintering.