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‘Black skull’ consciousness: the new Swedish working class

Department of Sociology and the Department of Gender Studies, Lund University, Sweden

Anders Neergaard

National Institute of Working Life in Norrkoping, Sweden

Many of the immigrant workers who came to Sweden from the sixties onwards, and their children, are stereotyped as ‘black skulls’. They are seen as silent, passive and mired in ‘traditional’ cultures, a stereotype that also pervades the trade union bureaucracies which are closely tied to the dominant Social Democratic Party. But interviews with activists in the FAI, a network of immigrant union activists, reveal a new ‘black skull’ consciousness in which the stereotype and insult of passivity have been turned on their heads. A new consciousness and analysis of Swedish racism has emerged — one which ultimately seeks to transform the whole way in which trade unions operate.

Key Words: activists • immigrants • racism • Sweden • trade unions • workers

Race & Class, Vol. 46, No. 3, 55-72 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0306396805050018


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