Hantverk i Sverige : beredskap inför framtida behov av låg energikonsumtion

Abstract: The aim of this bachelor`s thesis is to reflect the ways in which a variety of craftspeople earn a living in contemporary Sweden; how their circumstances have changed because of the tension between economic rationality and social cohesion, and what implications these changes may have for sustainability, with special regards to energy consumption. The selection of craftspeople has been made according to the labour market authority’s classifications of craft activity, with a focus on craft forms and skills that originally were found among self-sufficient and/or self-sustaining households at the turn of the previous century. The focus of this thesis is on home crafts and the effects that changes in market economics have meant for the organisation of labour in the Swedish economy. An investigation of craftspeople in Sweden makes it possible to highlight the so-called “non-qualitative transformation of the energy and distribution conflicts at the sharp end of the industrial revolution”, and likewise its relationship to climate change, social structures, and the relationship between the socioeconomic centre and its peripheries. Through use of a qualitative questionnaire and five in-depth interviews, various forms of craft activity, their markets as well as physical, mental and social processes related to the practice of craft skills are analysed. Empirical-ethnology methodologies are used to investigate how craftspeople experience their opportunities and limitations within the Swedish social system, and how these persons experience their own participation in the creation of a sustainable society. These approaches reveal both social and ecological advantages in craft activity. However many craftspeople reported experiencing structural hindrances to the continuation of their craft. One of several proposed solutions is the development of formal sector space for the marketing of locally produced goods, which would contribute to the development and cooperation of small business in non-urban areas with the concomitant reduction of imports of finished goods, thereby in turn reducing discharge of carbon dioxide.