In the 1880s, capitalism as a social and economic system integrated new geographic areas of the American continent. The construction of the Duluth & Iron Range Railroad (D&IR), financed by a group of Philadelphia investors led by Charlemagne Tower and later owned by the US Steel was part of this emerging political economy based on the exploitation of human and material resources. Migrant labor was in demand as it came cheap and, generally, floated between various construction-sites on the “frontier” of capitalism. The Swedish immigrants were one part of this group of “floaters” during the late 1800s and made up a significant part of the force that constructed and worked on the D&IR between the 1880s and the 1920s. This book deals with power relations between groups based on class and ethnic differences by analyzing the relationship between the Anglo-American bourgeois establishment and the Swedish and other immigrant workers and their children on the D&IR and in the railroad town of Two Harbors, Minnesota. The Anglo-American bourgeois hegemony in Minnesota, to a large extent, dictated the conditions under which Swedish immigrants and others toiled and were allowed access to American society. I have therefore analyzed the structural subordination and gradual integration of workers and, in particular, immigrant workers, in an emerging class society. The book also deals with the political and the cultural opposition to Anglo-American bourgeois hegemony that emerged in Two Harbors and that constructed a radical public sphere during the 1910s. In this process, new group identities based on class and ethnicity emerged in the working class neighborhoods in the wake of the capitalist expansion and exploitation, and as a result of worker agency. Building on traditions of political insurgency an alliance of immigrant workers, particularly Swedes, Anglo skilled workers and parts of the local petty bourgeoisie rose to a position of political and cultural power in the local community. This coalition was held together by the language of class that became the basis of a local multi-ethnic working class identity laying claim to its own version of Americanism. The period of preparedness leading up to the Great War, the war itself, and its aftermath, produced a reaction from the Anglo American bourgeoisie which resulted in a profound change in the public sphere as a coalition between “meliorist middle class reformers”, represented primarily by the YMCA and local church leaders and the D&IR and its program of welfare capitalism launched a broad program to counter socialism locally, and to forge new social bonds that would cut across class lines and ethnic boundaries. By this process, the ethnic working class in Two Harbors was offered entry into American society by acquiring citizenship and by their inclusion in a broader civic community undifferentiated by class. But this could only be realized by the workers’ adoption of an Anglo-American national identity based on identification with corporate interests, a new local solidarity that cut across class lines and a white racial identity that diminished the significance of ethnic boundaries. By these means the Swedish immigrants, or at least a portion of them, became Americans on terms established by the D&IR and its class allies.

Syftet med denna studie är att kartlägga organisationskultur inom folkrörelseorganisationer samt att undersöka dess eventuella förändringar under påverkan av kulturpolitiken. Denna studie tillämpar Geert Hofstedes teorier som behandlar olika nivåer och dimensioner av organisationskultur. Studien behandlar värderingar, ritualer, hjältar och symboler inom varje organisation i fråga i ett sammanhang av organisatoriska praktiker som meningsbärande kulturella uttryck. Studien har genomförts med ett kvalitativt angreppssätt där semistrukturerade intervjuer utförts med hjälp av ett bekvämlighetsrvalsstrategi. Datainsamlingen har genomförts genom personliga intervjuer med fyra medarbetare på två folkrörelseorganisationer i Stockholm d.v.s. ABF och Riksteatern. De valda Organisationerna är verksamma inom olika verksamhetsområde och respondenterna har jobbat i varierande positioner och har fleråriga arbetserfarenheter. Intervjuerna spelades in efter beviljat tillstånd och säkerställandet av respondenternas anonymitet. En innehållsanalys genomfördes efter transkribering av inspelat material i form av citat och egna tolkningar. Studien behandlar också en del sekundärdata i form av historisk information om folkrörelsernas samhälleliga rötter och utvecklingsprocess. Studien visar en ständigt pågående omorganiseringsprocess inom folkrörelseorganisationer vilket orsakat signifikanta förändringar inom folkrörelsernas organisationskultur. Konflikten mellan folkrörelsernas ideella logiker och kulturpolitikens kvalitetslogik uppträder i organisationskulturen på olika sätt. ABF:s kärnvärderingar nämligen hjälpsamhet, jämlikhet och högt arbetsengagemang anses vara mindre aktuella idag. Hjälpsamhet och jämlikhet ligger också till grund för Riksteaterns demokratiseringsverksamhet och anses fortfarande vara aktuella i organisationen. När det gäller ABF har vi funnit att organisationen har utvecklat en professionell och icke-normativ organisationskultur med stränga kontrollmekanismer och stor fokus på arbetsutförande och processansvar i ett slut organisationssystem. Stränga kontrollmekanismer anses vara ett resultat av kulturpolitikens krav på ökad internkontroll och kvalitetssäkring. Studien visar att Riksteatern har utvecklat en komplex mångsidig organisationskultur som finns i två sammanhängande lager. En lokal, personalinriktad och normativ arbetskrets som omger sig med professionella, resultatinriktade och pragmatiska medarbetare. Detta leder till en normativ organisationskultur som erbjuder pragmatiska lösningar i syfte att kunna leva upp till kulturdepartementets krav på hög kvalitet, resurseffektivitet och antalet besökare. Det finns en tendens mot professionalism och pragmatism inom båda organisationerna. Detta kan bero på att båda organisationerna är ekonomiskt beroende av statliga bidrag och därför ska leva upp till kulturpolitikens kvalitetskrav. Detta ledde också till svagt normativt engagemang och ett slags samhällelig passivitet. Vi har också funnit att betoningen på kvantitativ utvärdering inte är en fungerande strategi för utvärdering av ideell kulturverksamhet. Istället har detta orsakat paradoxala uppdrag och identitetsförvirring inom organisationerna enligt våra respondenter. / The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic description of the organizational culture in social movement organizations in Sweden and also to investigate its possible changes under the impact of cultural policy. The following study has been done using Geert Hofstede’s theories on different levels and dimensions of organizational culture. The study explores the organizational values, rituals, heroes and symbols in the context of organizational practices to be examined as meaningful cultural representations. This study has been done based on qualitative research method using semi-structured interviews and convenience sampling strategy for data collection. The data has been collected through personal interviews with four employees from two social movement organizations in Stockholm and from different areas of practice; The Swedish National Touring Theatre (Riksteatern) and The Workers’ Educational Association (ABF). The respondents have been working in variety of positions and have many years of experience. The interviews have been recorded as audio files after granting permission and ensuring the respondents’ anonymity to be preserved. A content analysis has been done following the transcription of the recorded material in the form of quotes and interpretations. Secondary data has been also used in the form of historical information regarding the origins of Swedish social movements and their development process. Our study shows that there is a constantly ongoing reorganization process in the Swedish social movements which has caused significant changes in the social movements’ organizational culture. The conflict between the logic of the social movements and the quality-oriented logic of the Swedish cultural policy emerges in the organizational culture in different ways. ABF’s core values such as benevolence, equality and high work engagement are considered to be less relevant in the current organizational culture. Benevolence and equality are also the core values of Riksteatern and are still considered to be relevant in the current organizational culture. When it comes to ABF, we have found that the organization has developed a professional and pragmatic organizational culture with strict control mechanisms and huge focus on task performance and processes in a closed-system organization. The strict control mechanisms are considered to be the result of the Swedish cultural policy’s requirements regarding internal control and quality assurance. The study shows that Riksteatern has developed a complex multidimensional organizational culture which exists in two interrelated layers. A local, employee-oriented and normative work circle surrounded by professional, result-oriented and pragmatic coworkers. This leads to a normative organizational culture which offers pragmatic solutions in order to be able to meet the ministry of culture’s requirements regarding high quality, resource efficiency and visitor numbers. There’s a tendency towards professionalism and pragmatism in both organizations. This might depend on the fact that both organizations are economically dependent to public funds and therefore are required to meet the cultural policy’s quality requirements. This leads also to a low normative engagement and societal passivity. We have also found that the emphasis on the quantitative evaluation ad revision is not an effective strategy to evaluate nonprofit cultural organization. Instead, this strategy has caused paradoxical missions and confusion regarding organizational identity, according to our respondents.