Abstract
Although “the worker” has been one of the key concepts in political language since the
second half of the 19th century, only few studies have been made of the historical shifts
in its definition and semantic demarcation.
Inspired by present day semantic shifts in the meaning and use of “the worker” in the Danish political debate, this thesis examines the long history of the politicization of the concept. With inspiration from Reinhart Kosellecks Begrieffsgeschichte it analyzes how “the worker” functions as both an indicator of, and a factor in, the creation of “the modern”. From being a concept used purely as a descriptive category for the wage earner in manual production in the pre-1790-era, it changes into a category defining “the workers” as a social group with a revolutionary potential. Thus “the worker” is transformed into a modern political concept through a process of democratization, politicization and temporalization.
Based on a broad range of sources – from party programs to speeches and newspapers – I study how political actors and parties in changing historical contexts have tried to colonialize the concept, in order to pursue different political goals. The thesis argues that the concept of “the worker” plays a key role in political parties’ different strategies of mobilization and legitimization, and that since the 1970s, a change can be identified as part of a post-industrial transformation of society. A change that embodies what the French historian Francois Hartog has described as a transition from the future-oriented to the presentist regime. In this process “the worker” has, in the last twenty years, increasingly lost the connection to class and the socialist utopia that dominated the perception of the concept in the 20th century. Instead it has become a catchphrase that is used by non-socialist parties attempts to capture new groups of voters and set the tone of the debate on social policies and the welfare state development.
The long history of the concept of the worker thus functions as an analytic framework for studying broader societal changes in this almost 300-year period. A more specific focus on language is not meant to replace earlier studies on class, social and economic structures – but it can hopefully refine the way we analytically use empirically embedded concepts.
Inspired by present day semantic shifts in the meaning and use of “the worker” in the Danish political debate, this thesis examines the long history of the politicization of the concept. With inspiration from Reinhart Kosellecks Begrieffsgeschichte it analyzes how “the worker” functions as both an indicator of, and a factor in, the creation of “the modern”. From being a concept used purely as a descriptive category for the wage earner in manual production in the pre-1790-era, it changes into a category defining “the workers” as a social group with a revolutionary potential. Thus “the worker” is transformed into a modern political concept through a process of democratization, politicization and temporalization.
Based on a broad range of sources – from party programs to speeches and newspapers – I study how political actors and parties in changing historical contexts have tried to colonialize the concept, in order to pursue different political goals. The thesis argues that the concept of “the worker” plays a key role in political parties’ different strategies of mobilization and legitimization, and that since the 1970s, a change can be identified as part of a post-industrial transformation of society. A change that embodies what the French historian Francois Hartog has described as a transition from the future-oriented to the presentist regime. In this process “the worker” has, in the last twenty years, increasingly lost the connection to class and the socialist utopia that dominated the perception of the concept in the 20th century. Instead it has become a catchphrase that is used by non-socialist parties attempts to capture new groups of voters and set the tone of the debate on social policies and the welfare state development.
The long history of the concept of the worker thus functions as an analytic framework for studying broader societal changes in this almost 300-year period. A more specific focus on language is not meant to replace earlier studies on class, social and economic structures – but it can hopefully refine the way we analytically use empirically embedded concepts.
Translated title of the contribution | The Struggle for the Workers: political conceptualizations of “the worker” 1750-2017 |
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Original language | Danish |
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Publication status | Published - 2017 |