Roland Paulsen

Roland Karl Oscar Ericsson Paulsen (born 17 December 1981) is a Swedish author and sociologist. His thesis Empty Labor: Idleness and Workplace Resistance is about people who devote more than half of their work time to private activities, so-called "empty work".^[1] The dissertation was published at Cambridge University Press and received international attention from among others The Atlantic, The Economist and The Wall Street Journal.^[2][3][4]

Roland Karl Oscar Ericsson Paulsen

Biography

Paulsen was born in Hägersten, Stockholm on 17 December 1981. He received his PhD from Uppsala University and is a docent in sociology; he is now active at the institution of business administration at Lund University.^[5][6] He researches individuals relationship to waged work, and especially questions regarding why waged work takes up such a major role in peoples lives.^[7]

Research and engagement in public debate

Paulsen claims that the people who have the highest income generally contributes the least.^[8] His dissertation Empty labor is about people who spend more than half of their time at work doing private activities.^[1] Roland Paulsen writes columns for Dagens Nyheter, Sweden's biggest newspaper. In these he has among other things explained his view on inequality and his critique of the theories of Hans Rosling.^[9] He has also co-authored Return to Meaning: A Social Science with Something to say (with Mats Alvesson) in which the authors address how the "publish or perish" game produces meaningless social science research that cannot address social problems and just serve to further academic tenure and promotion.^[10] Paulsen has also put forward the concept of functional stupidity [which according to Paulsen is defined as] "[...] the modus operandi of ego-dystonic compliance we enter in order to endure long hours of imposed work assignments we would rather not perform.".^[11][12]

Criticism of the work-society

In 2010 Paulsen published his book Arbetssamhället – Hur arbetet överlevde teknologin (The work society - how work survived the technology) which was critical of work.

Paulsen said that he wanted to achieve a change in how we perceive work, in relationship to that the need for work itself has decreased due to the technological development.^[13][14]

Paulsen considers it to be a waste of resources that peoples working hours hasn't decreased as technology has moved forward. As well as claimed that work is increasingly losing its ability to create value.^[15] Instead, Paulsen claims, that work takes on a religious function in contemporary society, and acts like a mechanism of distributing resources.

When asked why he thinks it is an important question for people who vote in political elections to create more work. Paulsen responded:

"It's an absurd idea, all politicians today want to create jobs. The only thing that is being discussed is technical aspects of how that is going to be achieved. But it is also obvious that one does not win ellections by promising that there are going to be more people without any work, but the question of shortening working time has been swept under the rug completely. In the past, we worked to create growth, now we want growth to create jobs."^[16]

Bibliography

• Arbetssamhället - Hur arbetet överlevde teknologin (Gleerups, 2010)
• Empty labor: Subjectivity and idleness at work (Uppsala universitet, cop. 2013)
• Empty Labor: Idleness and Workplace Resistance (Cambridge University Press, 2014)
• We merely obey: A story about the public employment service (Vi bara lyder: En berättelse om Arbetsförmedlingen) (Atlas, 2015)
• Return to Meaning: A Social Science with Something to Say (Oxford University Press, 2017) (with Mats Alvesson and Yiannis Gabriel)
• What if: a study of anxiety (Tänk om : en studie i oro) (Albert Bonniers Förlag, 2020)
• Why We Worry: A Sociological Explanation (Routledge, 2024)

Awards

• 27th International Labor Process Conference Award for best doctoral paper (2009)^[17]
• Winner of The Nordic Sociological Association Competition for Junior Sociologists (2010)^[18][19]
• Wallanderstipendiet from Jan Wallanders & Tom Hedelius foundation (2014)
• Johan Hansson-priset (2015)
• Natur & Kultur's debate-book price (2015)^[20]
• European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) book award (17 June 2017)^[17]
• The documentary Vi bara lyder (We merely obey) which is based on Paulsens work won the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam's price for best short documentary in 2017.^[21][22]