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Mattias Bengtsson

Professor

Department of Sociology and Work Science
Telephone
+46 31-786 47 78
Mail
mattias.bengtsson@socav.gu.se
Visiting address
Skanstorget 18
41122 Göteborg
Postal address
Box 720
40530 Göteborg

About Mattias Bengtsson

Background

I am Professor in Sociology at the University of Gothenburg since January 2025, and since August 2024 I also have a part-time position as Professor in Sociology with a specialisation in the development of working life and welfare, University of Borås. I defended my doctoral thesis in sociology in 2008. In the thesis, I study individualisation processes in Swedish working life, with an emphasis on a class perspective.

Research areas

My research has mainly focused on the welfare state, labour markets, industrial relations, retirement and the meaning of work, and sociological theory development. My research has often been based on issues of social inequality, especially from a class perspective. For example, I have studied social class in relation to issues such as the individualisation of working life, social comparisons, social mobility, class identification, attitudes to trade unions and political attitudes. During the last decade I have, together with Marita Flisbäck, developed a sociology of existence in relation to studies of individuals‘ meaning-making in the retirement process, attitudes to work as a calling, as well as older workers’ competences and existential driving forces for an extended working life, see e.g. the theory article "A sociology of existence for a late modern world. Basic assumptions and conceptual tools" (https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12416). I am currently working on a Nordic research project comparing policy changes, actors' strategies, and labour market and welfare-related effects of the pandemic in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, see e.g. the article "Path Reinforcer or Policy Accelerator? COVID-19 and Scandinavian Social Protection Reform Trajectories" (https://tidsskrift.dk/njwls/article/view/145479).

In a six-year FORTE programme, I am also studying the issue of social sustainability and just transition through analyses of labour market and welfare challenges at the municipal and regional level in connection with the green transition in the automotive industry in western Sweden. In addition, I am conducting a project at the University of Borås entitled ‘The new labour market policy landscape - cross-sectoral collaboration from a municipal perspective’. Finally, I study the Swedish work line/strategy (arbetslinjen) and how it is expressed in changes in active labour market policies and in the unemployment and sickness insurance systems. I have previously studied issues concerning opportunities and obstacles for transnational trade union co-operation within the EU, the working poor in a European perspective, and reforms within the Swedish Public Employment Service and their consequences for caseworkers and clients. I also have a strong commitment to leading, developing and reviewing new research - for example, I am regularly engaged as a reviewer of thesis texts.

My page on Research Gate: Mattias Bengtsson (researchgate.net)

Teaching and supervision

I am responsible for a sociology course, where different aspects of social inequality and living conditions are studied. During the last decade I have taught in the Work Science programme, in areas such as labour market policy, European industrial relations and have been the course leader for the "Degree project in labour studies" (bachelor level). I have also previously taught on various sociology and social psychology courses, as well as on programmes such as the Human Resources Programme, the Teacher Programme, the European Programme and the Nursing Programme.

I am currently the main supervisor for Sophie Banasiak and for Kristin Opaas Haugli, both PhD students in work science.

I have collaboratively published several textbooks. For example, together with Tomas Berglund, I am the editor and author of the third and revised edition of the book Arbetslivet (Lund, Studentlitteratur, 2017).

Collaboration and academic assignments

I am a member on the editorial board of the Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies, the board of the Centre for Research on Work and Employment/WE at the University of Gothenburg and the editorial council of the working life journal Arbetsmarknad & Arbetsliv. In addition, I am the leader of a research group called "Working Life and Welfare in Transition" at the University of Borås.