Roland Paulsen Explained

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". The dissertation was published at Cambridge University Press and received international attention from among others The Atlantic, The Economist and The Wall Street Journal.[1] [2] [3]

Biography

Paulsen was born in Hägersten, Stockholm on 17 December 1981. He received his Ph.D from Uppsala universitet and is a docent in sociology; he is now active at the institution of business administration at Lund university.[4] [5] He researches individuals relationship to waged work, and especially questions regarding why waged work takes up such a major role in peoples lives.[6]

Research and engagement in public debate

Paulsen claims that the people who have the highest income generally contributes the least.[7] His dissertation Empty labor is about people who spend more than half of their time at work doing private activities.[8] 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 (Roughly translated: 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]

Paulsens 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:

Bibliography

Awards

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Art of Not Working at Work. Paulsen. Roland. 2014-11-03. The Atlantic. 2019-03-07.
  2. News: A guide to skiving. 2017-04-30. The Economist.
  3. Web site: The Science of Slacking at Work. 2017-04-30. Weber. Lauren. 2014-11-18. WSJ.
  4. Web site: Roland Paulsen Lund University . 2022-05-01 . www.lunduniversity.lu.se.
  5. Web site: 2013-11-03 . Roland Paulsen - Uppsala University, Sweden . 2022-05-01 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131103210108/http://katalog.uu.se/empInfo?id=N7-57 . 3 November 2013 . dead.
  6. Web site: Han vill se sex timmars arbetsdag. dt.se. 2016-02-16. 2020-11-13. sv.
  7. Torbjörn Tenfält. "'Att inte arbeta kan vara mer moraliskt'", Dagens Nyheter, 4 August 2010. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  8. News: Mazzarella . Merete . 2013-06-14 . 13 June 2013 . 2017-04-30 . Tomt arbete är ett opium för folket . sv . Empty work is an opium for the people . SvD.se .
  9. Web site: Articles by Roland Paulsen in Dagens Nyheter. 14 December 2023.
  10. Aslan . Alper . September 2018 . Book review: Return to meaning: A social science with something to say . Management Learning . 49 . 4 . 507–509 . 10.1177/1350507617738642 . 148876859 . 1350-5076.
  11. Fagerberg . Johan . McKee . Kevin . Paulsen . Roland . 2020-11-01 . The unreflective practitioner: a pilot study on functional stupidity and social work . European Journal of Social Work . en . 23 . 6 . 992–1004 . 10.1080/13691457.2020.1818058 . 225205091 . 1369-1457. free .
  12. Paulsen . Roland . February 2017 . Slipping into functional stupidity: The bifocality of organizational compliance . Human Relations . en . 70 . 2 . 185–210 . 10.1177/0018726716649246 . 148416386 . 0018-7267.
  13. Johannes Nesser. "Det meningslösa arbetet", Upsala Nya Tidning, 27 July 2010. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  14. Martina Lindvall. "Undersysslesatta surfar på jobbet", Upsala Nya Tidning, 29 March 2010. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  15. Roland Paulsen. "Är arbetet alltid meningsfullt?", Upsala Nya Tidning, 30 July 2010. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  16. Web site: Best Doctoral Paper . 2022-05-01 . Lund University . en.
  17. Web site: Winner of The Nordic Sociological Association Competition for Junior Sociologists . 2022-05-01 . Lund University . en.
  18. Book: Paulsen, Roland . Empty labor : idleness and workplace resistance . 2014 . 978-1-316-00489-0 . Cambridge . i . 897844907.
  19. Web site: Natur & Kulturs debattbokspris . 2022-05-01 . Lund University . en.
  20. Web site: NYHETER . 2022-05-01 . malmodockteater . sv.
  21. Web site: VI BARA LYDER . 2022-05-01 . malmodockteater . sv.

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