Action Without Contention? Contextualizing Social Movements in 1980s Sweden

Abstract

AbstractThe early 1980s in Western Europe were characterized by a massive wave of, at times militant, protest. In this context, Sweden looked like the odd one out because confrontations remained a marginal phenomenon. Could this be explained by the Swedish political system, which was characterized by moderation, dialogue and negotiation? This paper argues that asking what made Sweden different risks disconnecting Swedish protest experiences from the rest of Europe. Instead, researchers should ask how and why the image of mass contention and militancy, became a norm that informed the expectations of 1980s activists, authorities and the media. The argument is not that researchers should discard the norm of mass contentious action and instead focus on ‘what really happened’. Rather, the norm itself should be approached as a historical category, one that deeply influenced (views of) the 1980s protest wave—both then and now. Asking such questions can help clarify the relation between contention, subversion and social movement power.