M Holmqvist
Biographic Data
| ID | 21271 |
|---|---|
| NAME | M Holmqvist |
| GIVEN NAMES | M |
| FAMILY NAME | Holmqvist |
| SIGNATURE | HOLMQVIST M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Stockholm University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4725-8757 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 73 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Presentation of self in the neoliberal society
In this article, we ethnographically explore the neoliberal society from two contrasting social and economic perspectives in Sweden: an elite community characterised by well-educated people, full employment and affluence and wealth and a former working-class community with high unemployment rates, poverty and poor education level. Analysing rich and varied field data from 2010 through 2023, the theoretical framework is rooted in Erving Goffman's …
Näringslivseliterna i Djursholm och meritokratin
I den här artikeln undersöker jag näringslivseliternas meritokratiskt baserade privilegier. Dessa grupper är inte vilka som helst, utan de som kommit att bli centrala makthavare och förebilder i ett alltmer företagsekonomiserat samhälle. Från att historiskt ha varit socialt ringaktade, har de ekonomiska och finansiella eliterna blivit en betydande elitgrupp i det svenska och globala samhället, med ett inflytande som sträcker sig långt utöver de e…
Le « faux » prix Nobel de sciences économiques
Royal power in the market-oriented society
In this paper, I examine how the King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, systematically consecrates the nation's business and corporate elites who have come to dominate Swedish society during the last decades concomitant with a fundamental transformation from traditional social-democracy to neoliberalism, that is, a society characterized by the logic of corporations and markets. By promoting the business and corporate elites, the King contributes to str…
The Royal Touch Under Neoliberalism
In this paper, I examine how the formally powerless Swedish King consecrates neoliberalism by promoting the idea of 'leadership' in his role as the Honorary Chairman of the World Scout Foundation, a global organization dedicated to educating and fostering young people all over the world. 'Leadership', which stresses people's individual responsibility, entrepreneurship, activity and productivity, and positive thinking, is a critical component of n…
Eliterna och företagsekonomiseringen av Sverige
Elite Reproduction and Power in the Neoliberal Era
One group of elites that often escapes attention among sociologists are royals, who seem to be regarded as uninteresting and irrelevant study objects for the analysis of elites' reproduction and power in contemporary society. Still, as suggested by, for instance, the death of the British Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 and the installation of the Danish King Frederik X in 2024, royals enjoy extraordinary attention among the general public and media, w…
Consecration and meritocracy in elite business schools
Sociologists are paying increasing attention to the business and financial elites that control today's global economy; indeed, there's a great need to understand who these elites are, what they do, and what makes them tick, as individuals, and as a class. But we also need to understand how the economic elites aremade in the current social and economic system, and one significant way of doing this, is by examining elite business schools, that is, …
Elite Communities and Polarization in Neoliberal Society
Elite communities' are the areas where the wealthy, and even 'superrich', live, socialize and raise their children as future economic and financial elites; they are the places where a few lead socially and economically privileged lives. Earlier studies have concentrated on the inner dynamics of these settings, focusing on the way residents are constructed and socialized as elites through their social, communicative and aesthetic abilities that ar…
Consecrating and Desecrating Elite Communities
In this article I report observations from an ethnographic study of a Swedish economic elite community, including interviews with residents and service staff, and participant observations in various social contexts stretching over a period of five years that can contribute to an understanding of how elite communities respond to potential social deviance among its members, such as feelings of insufficiency and stress, thus trying to avoid any ‘des…
Economics as symbolic capital
Ever since the first elite business schools were founded in Europe and the United States during the late 1800s and early 1900s, they have enjoyed an intimate relationship with economics. Despite some notable analyses of economics' importance for the successful institutionalization of business schools, an understanding of the relation between economics and elite business schools requires further development. As such, this paper focuses on 'economi…
Creating and upholding an elite community
This article addresses a largely neglected area of study in sociology, namely the consecration of people in elite communities. Through the notion of 'consecrating exclusion', I explore how Sweden's foremost elite community Djursholm was founded in 1889, and how its aura and character as an exclusive neighbourhood are maintained today. Data come from historical material and a five-year ethnographic study consisting of field observations, interview…
Stratification in a Neoliberal Society
Stratification in a Neoliberal Society : The Making of Elites and Occupationally Disabled in Contemporary Sweden
Medical diagnosis of dyslexia in a Swedish elite school
Based on qualitative data of an upper-secondary school in Sweden's primary elite community, Djursholm, I propose how medical diagnosis of students as dyslexics contributes to consecrating them by offering a short cut to successful performance, while at the same time reproducing differences between social classes. The study suggests how students that do not score top can be labeled dyslexic and the social and moral consequences of that. I introduc…
Att studera den ekonomiska eliten
Studying the Economic Elite – Problems and ChallengesThis article presents my experiences of studying Djursholm as Sweden’s ”Leader Community” during 2010 through 2015. I address the relative lack of studies of the economic elite, which is a problem both for the sociological literature, and for public debate. The reason to why relatively few studies have been made of the economic elite, particularly in Sweden, has amongst others to do with a repu…
Leader Communities
Leader Communities is a study of Stockholm's suburb Djursholm and other similar places: privileged communities where elites choose to live, socialize with other elites, and raise their children into future elites. Mikael Holmqvist provides unparalleled insight into today's power elite and the social and political consequences of their aspirations
Identity regulation in neo-liberal societies
This article studies the formation and regulation of individual identities among a group of people who after long periods of unemployment are put in a specialized work program for so called ‘occupationally disabled’ individuals. In contrast to its official aim to activate and rehabilitate participants back to the labour market, the study suggests that the work program constitutes the participants as passive and unable to meet the criteria of empl…
The ‘Active Welfare State’ and Its Consequences
This paper reports the findings of a longitudinal case study of sheltered employment for activating so-called occupationally disabled people in Sweden. Data consist of interviews, archival studies and participant observation on how occupationally disabled people's employability is to be promoted and the consequences of such activities. It is argued that those that, for one reason or another, are unable to live up to the norms of being a ‘normal’ …
Disabled people and dirty work
Based on a longitudinal case study of the work offered by a Swedish sheltered work organization that can be regarded as ‘dirty’, in the sense that it stigmatizes those people that do it, in this paper I analyze how ‘dirty work’ can be seen as an important yet so far neglected source of the social construction of disability. Specifically, the aim of the paper is to suggest how an individual can become a ‘disabled person’ by doing dirty work. By wo…
Medicalization of unemployment
This article reports qualitative data on how the Swedish Public Employment Service classifies unemployed individuals as 'occupationally disabled' in order to transfer them to various labour market programmes.The article draws on a framework of medicalization, arguing that the individualization of the social issue of unemployment into a personal trouble of disability is a neglected yet important phenomenon that has interesting implications for the…
Creating the Disabled Person
This paper reports on how the National Employment Office in Sweden creates the disabled person by recruiting them to work-for-the-disabled programs. As a rule, job applicants who are classified as “disabled” do not consider themselves as such, but they are encouraged to become disabled by adopting the organization's norms, rules and routines, which specify what is expected of them as disabled if they are to be assisted to find a job. Disability i…
Medicalization of unemployment
This article reports qualitative data on how the Swedish Public Employment Service classifies unemployed individuals as 'occupationally disabled' in order to transfer them to various labour market programmes.The article draws on a framework of medicalization, arguing that the individualization of the social issue of unemployment into a personal trouble of disability is a neglected yet important phenomenon that has interesting implications for the…
Medical diagnosis of dyslexia in a Swedish elite school
Based on qualitative data of an upper-secondary school in Sweden's primary elite community, Djursholm, I propose how medical diagnosis of students as dyslexics contributes to consecrating them by offering a short cut to successful performance, while at the same time reproducing differences between social classes. The study suggests how students that do not score top can be labeled dyslexic and the social and moral consequences of that. I introduc…
The ‘Active Welfare State’ and Its Consequences
This paper reports the findings of a longitudinal case study of sheltered employment for activating so-called occupationally disabled people in Sweden. Data consist of interviews, archival studies and participant observation on how occupationally disabled people's employability is to be promoted and the consequences of such activities. It is argued that those that, for one reason or another, are unable to live up to the norms of being a ‘normal’ …
Disabled people and dirty work
Based on a longitudinal case study of the work offered by a Swedish sheltered work organization that can be regarded as ‘dirty’, in the sense that it stigmatizes those people that do it, in this paper I analyze how ‘dirty work’ can be seen as an important yet so far neglected source of the social construction of disability. Specifically, the aim of the paper is to suggest how an individual can become a ‘disabled person’ by doing dirty work. By wo…
Elite Communities and Polarization in Neoliberal Society
Elite communities' are the areas where the wealthy, and even 'superrich', live, socialize and raise their children as future economic and financial elites; they are the places where a few lead socially and economically privileged lives. Earlier studies have concentrated on the inner dynamics of these settings, focusing on the way residents are constructed and socialized as elites through their social, communicative and aesthetic abilities that ar…
Consecration and meritocracy in elite business schools
Sociologists are paying increasing attention to the business and financial elites that control today's global economy; indeed, there's a great need to understand who these elites are, what they do, and what makes them tick, as individuals, and as a class. But we also need to understand how the economic elites aremade in the current social and economic system, and one significant way of doing this, is by examining elite business schools, that is, …
Economics as symbolic capital
Ever since the first elite business schools were founded in Europe and the United States during the late 1800s and early 1900s, they have enjoyed an intimate relationship with economics. Despite some notable analyses of economics' importance for the successful institutionalization of business schools, an understanding of the relation between economics and elite business schools requires further development. As such, this paper focuses on 'economi…
Creating and upholding an elite community
This article addresses a largely neglected area of study in sociology, namely the consecration of people in elite communities. Through the notion of 'consecrating exclusion', I explore how Sweden's foremost elite community Djursholm was founded in 1889, and how its aura and character as an exclusive neighbourhood are maintained today. Data come from historical material and a five-year ethnographic study consisting of field observations, interview…
Elite Reproduction and Power in the Neoliberal Era
One group of elites that often escapes attention among sociologists are royals, who seem to be regarded as uninteresting and irrelevant study objects for the analysis of elites' reproduction and power in contemporary society. Still, as suggested by, for instance, the death of the British Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 and the installation of the Danish King Frederik X in 2024, royals enjoy extraordinary attention among the general public and media, w…
Creating the Disabled Person
This paper reports on how the National Employment Office in Sweden creates the disabled person by recruiting them to work-for-the-disabled programs. As a rule, job applicants who are classified as “disabled” do not consider themselves as such, but they are encouraged to become disabled by adopting the organization's norms, rules and routines, which specify what is expected of them as disabled if they are to be assisted to find a job. Disability i…
Stratification in a Neoliberal Society
Stratification in a Neoliberal Society : The Making of Elites and Occupationally Disabled in Contemporary Sweden
Creating the Disabled Person
This paper reports on how the National Employment Office in Sweden creates the disabled person by recruiting them to work-for-the-disabled programs. As a rule, job applicants who are classified as “disabled” do not consider themselves as such, but they are encouraged to become disabled by adopting the organization's norms, rules and routines, which specify what is expected of them as disabled if they are to be assisted to find a job. Disability i…
Disabled people and dirty work
Based on a longitudinal case study of the work offered by a Swedish sheltered work organization that can be regarded as ‘dirty’, in the sense that it stigmatizes those people that do it, in this paper I analyze how ‘dirty work’ can be seen as an important yet so far neglected source of the social construction of disability. Specifically, the aim of the paper is to suggest how an individual can become a ‘disabled person’ by doing dirty work. By wo…
Medicalization of unemployment
This article reports qualitative data on how the Swedish Public Employment Service classifies unemployed individuals as 'occupationally disabled' in order to transfer them to various labour market programmes.The article draws on a framework of medicalization, arguing that the individualization of the social issue of unemployment into a personal trouble of disability is a neglected yet important phenomenon that has interesting implications for the…
The ‘Active Welfare State’ and Its Consequences
This paper reports the findings of a longitudinal case study of sheltered employment for activating so-called occupationally disabled people in Sweden. Data consist of interviews, archival studies and participant observation on how occupationally disabled people's employability is to be promoted and the consequences of such activities. It is argued that those that, for one reason or another, are unable to live up to the norms of being a ‘normal’ …
Identity regulation in neo-liberal societies
This article studies the formation and regulation of individual identities among a group of people who after long periods of unemployment are put in a specialized work program for so called ‘occupationally disabled’ individuals. In contrast to its official aim to activate and rehabilitate participants back to the labour market, the study suggests that the work program constitutes the participants as passive and unable to meet the criteria of empl…
Leader Communities
Leader Communities is a study of Stockholm's suburb Djursholm and other similar places: privileged communities where elites choose to live, socialize with other elites, and raise their children into future elites. Mikael Holmqvist provides unparalleled insight into today's power elite and the social and political consequences of their aspirations
Att studera den ekonomiska eliten
Studying the Economic Elite – Problems and ChallengesThis article presents my experiences of studying Djursholm as Sweden’s ”Leader Community” during 2010 through 2015. I address the relative lack of studies of the economic elite, which is a problem both for the sociological literature, and for public debate. The reason to why relatively few studies have been made of the economic elite, particularly in Sweden, has amongst others to do with a repu…
Medical diagnosis of dyslexia in a Swedish elite school
Based on qualitative data of an upper-secondary school in Sweden's primary elite community, Djursholm, I propose how medical diagnosis of students as dyslexics contributes to consecrating them by offering a short cut to successful performance, while at the same time reproducing differences between social classes. The study suggests how students that do not score top can be labeled dyslexic and the social and moral consequences of that. I introduc…
Creating and upholding an elite community
This article addresses a largely neglected area of study in sociology, namely the consecration of people in elite communities. Through the notion of 'consecrating exclusion', I explore how Sweden's foremost elite community Djursholm was founded in 1889, and how its aura and character as an exclusive neighbourhood are maintained today. Data come from historical material and a five-year ethnographic study consisting of field observations, interview…
Stratification in a Neoliberal Society
Stratification in a Neoliberal Society : The Making of Elites and Occupationally Disabled in Contemporary Sweden
Consecrating and Desecrating Elite Communities
In this article I report observations from an ethnographic study of a Swedish economic elite community, including interviews with residents and service staff, and participant observations in various social contexts stretching over a period of five years that can contribute to an understanding of how elite communities respond to potential social deviance among its members, such as feelings of insufficiency and stress, thus trying to avoid any ‘des…
Economics as symbolic capital
Ever since the first elite business schools were founded in Europe and the United States during the late 1800s and early 1900s, they have enjoyed an intimate relationship with economics. Despite some notable analyses of economics' importance for the successful institutionalization of business schools, an understanding of the relation between economics and elite business schools requires further development. As such, this paper focuses on 'economi…
Consecration and meritocracy in elite business schools
Sociologists are paying increasing attention to the business and financial elites that control today's global economy; indeed, there's a great need to understand who these elites are, what they do, and what makes them tick, as individuals, and as a class. But we also need to understand how the economic elites aremade in the current social and economic system, and one significant way of doing this, is by examining elite business schools, that is, …
Elite Communities and Polarization in Neoliberal Society
Elite communities' are the areas where the wealthy, and even 'superrich', live, socialize and raise their children as future economic and financial elites; they are the places where a few lead socially and economically privileged lives. Earlier studies have concentrated on the inner dynamics of these settings, focusing on the way residents are constructed and socialized as elites through their social, communicative and aesthetic abilities that ar…
Eliterna och företagsekonomiseringen av Sverige
Elite Reproduction and Power in the Neoliberal Era
One group of elites that often escapes attention among sociologists are royals, who seem to be regarded as uninteresting and irrelevant study objects for the analysis of elites' reproduction and power in contemporary society. Still, as suggested by, for instance, the death of the British Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 and the installation of the Danish King Frederik X in 2024, royals enjoy extraordinary attention among the general public and media, w…
Presentation of self in the neoliberal society
In this article, we ethnographically explore the neoliberal society from two contrasting social and economic perspectives in Sweden: an elite community characterised by well-educated people, full employment and affluence and wealth and a former working-class community with high unemployment rates, poverty and poor education level. Analysing rich and varied field data from 2010 through 2023, the theoretical framework is rooted in Erving Goffman's …
Näringslivseliterna i Djursholm och meritokratin
I den här artikeln undersöker jag näringslivseliternas meritokratiskt baserade privilegier. Dessa grupper är inte vilka som helst, utan de som kommit att bli centrala makthavare och förebilder i ett alltmer företagsekonomiserat samhälle. Från att historiskt ha varit socialt ringaktade, har de ekonomiska och finansiella eliterna blivit en betydande elitgrupp i det svenska och globala samhället, med ett inflytande som sträcker sig långt utöver de e…
Le « faux » prix Nobel de sciences économiques
Royal power in the market-oriented society
In this paper, I examine how the King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, systematically consecrates the nation's business and corporate elites who have come to dominate Swedish society during the last decades concomitant with a fundamental transformation from traditional social-democracy to neoliberalism, that is, a society characterized by the logic of corporations and markets. By promoting the business and corporate elites, the King contributes to str…
The Royal Touch Under Neoliberalism
In this paper, I examine how the formally powerless Swedish King consecrates neoliberalism by promoting the idea of 'leadership' in his role as the Honorary Chairman of the World Scout Foundation, a global organization dedicated to educating and fostering young people all over the world. 'Leadership', which stresses people's individual responsibility, entrepreneurship, activity and productivity, and positive thinking, is a critical component of n…
Sociology (19 works) · Political science (17 works) · Law (12 works) · Elite (10 works) · Politics (10 works) · Social and Cultural Dynamics (10 works) · Social science (8 works) · Elite Sociology and Global Capitalism (6 works) · Gender Studies (6 works) · Labor Movements and Unions (6 works)