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  4. Mattias Bengtsson

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

Since February 2025, I have been Professor of Sociology at the University of Gothenburg (previously Professor of Sociology, specialising in the development of working life and welfare, at the University of Borås). I received my PhD in 2008 with the doctoral thesis The Individual Clocks In: Work, Trade Unions and Wages from a Sociological Perspective.

Research areas

My research has primarily focused on transformations of social protection systems and labour market policy, industrial relations, retirement and the meaning of work, as well as the development of sociological theory. My research has often addressed issues of social inequality, particularly from a social class perspective. For example, I have studied social class in relation to the individualisation of working life, social comparisons, social mobility, class identification, attitudes towards trade unions, and political attitudes. Over the past decade, together with Marita Flisbäck, I have developed an existential sociological perspective in studies of individuals’ meaning-making during the retirement process, orientations towards work as a calling, and older workers’ competencies and existential motivations for extending their working lives. See, for example, the theoretical article “A sociology of existence for a late modern world: Basic assumptions and conceptual tools” (https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12416).

From 2021 to 2026, I have worked within a Nordic research project comparing policy changes, actor strategies, and the labour market and welfare-related effects of the pandemic in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. In an ongoing FORTE research programme (2023–2029), I study climate policy, social sustainability, and the just transition. This involves analyses of labour market and welfare challenges at the municipal and regional levels in connection with the green transition in the automotive industry in Western Sweden, as well as analyses of changes in climate and welfare policy at the national level. From 2026 to 2031, I am also participating in the UGOT-ReWork research centre within the project “Navigating concepts, policy and practice in the field of return to work”. Further information is available here: https://www.gu.se/forskning/att-navigera-bland-begrepp-policy-och-praktik-i-faltet-atergang-i-arbete

In addition, I recently completed a project at the University of Borås entitled “The New Labour Market Policy Landscape – Cross-Sectoral Collaboration from a Municipal Perspective”. This is one example of my interest in Sweden’s work-first principle (arbetslinjen) and how it is manifested in changes to active labour market policy and the unemployment and sickness insurance systems.

I have also previously studied opportunities and barriers to transnational trade union cooperation within the EU, the working poor from a European perspective, and reforms of the Swedish Public Employment Service and their consequences for caseworkers and clients.

My ResearchGate page: Mattias Bengtsson (ResearchGate)

Teaching and supervision

I am responsible for a doctoral course entitled “Classic Works in Work Science: Organisational Perspectives” and for two intermediate-level sociology courses focusing on different dimensions of social inequality and living conditions. For many years, I have also taught on the Work Science Programme in areas such as labour market policy and European industrial relations, and I have served as course coordinator for the bachelor’s-level course “Degree Project in Work Science”. I have also previously taught on various sociology and social psychology courses, as well as on programmes in Human Resource Management, Teacher Education, European Studies, and Nursing.

I am the principal supervisor of Sophie Banasiak, a doctoral student in Work Science, and co-supervisor of Stefan Marjanovic, a doctoral student in Sociology.

I have co-authored and co-edited several textbooks. For example, together with Tomas Berglund, I was editor and contributing author of the third, revised edition of Arbetslivet (Lund: Studentlitteratur, 2017).

Collaboration and academic assignments

I am a member of the board of the Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies, of the editorial advisory board of the journal Arbetsmarknad & Arbetsliv, and of the steering committee of the National Interdisciplinary Network for Existential Perspectives in Research (NEXUS). In addition, I led the research group Working Life and Welfare in Transition at the University of Borås from 2023 to 2025.