Hegemony and the Intellectual Function Medialised Public Discourse on Privatisation in Sweden 1988-1993 Sunnercrantz, Liv 2017 Document Version: Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Sunnercrantz, L. (2017). Hegemony and the Intellectual Function: Medialised Public Discourse on Privatisation in Sweden 1988-1993. Lund University. 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LUND UNIVERSITY PO Box 117 221 00 Lund +46 46-222 00 00 LIV SUNNERCRANTZ LIV Hegemony andHegemony the Intellectual Function Hegemony and the Intellectual Function Medialised Public Discourse on Privatisation in How can the apparently far-fetched utopian beliefs Sweden1988-1993 of a few marginalised ideologists become the fra- me of reference for all public discourse in a short LIV SUNNERCRANTZ period of time? Certain ideas come to dominate DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY | LUND UNIVERSITY, 2017 an entire debate, time, or society and become an accepted truth through processes of naturalisation. Different active practices and processes contribute in making particular perspectives gain interpretive privileges: arguments resonate, concepts stick, and ideologies become common sense. Ideas and meanings are disseminated, inscribed, and institu- tionalised in the social world with far-reaching consequences. The question is how. How does one go about setting the agenda that shapes the debate? This dissertation is a contribution to the theoretical development concerning hegemony and the intellectual function. To make sense of meaning-making struggles, dominance, and interpretative privilege in the debate, the notion of “intellectuals” is reconceptualised through a critique of conventional perspecti- ves and an empirically grounded analysis. The analysis is focused on utterances in the medialised debate on privatisation in Sweden during the crisis years of 1988 to 1993, and conducted with inspiration from post-Marxist discourse theory and rhetorical political analysis. By examining the processes, practices, and strategies involved, the study shows how a hegemonic struggle unfolds around the meaning of “privatisation”. Faculty of Social Sciences Department of Sociology 534716 Lund Dissertation in Sociology 116 ISBN 978-91-7753-471-6 ISSN 1102-4712 789177 116 9 Hegemony and the Intellectual Function 1 2 Hegemony and the Intellectual Function Medialised Public Discourse on Privatisation in Sweden 1988-1993 Liv Sunnercrantz DOCTORAL DISSERTATION by due permission of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Lund University, Sweden. To be defended at Kulturens Hörsal, 19th of December 2017 at 10.15. Faculty opponent Emilia Palonen, University of Helsinki 3 Organization Document name LUND UNIVERSITY Doctoral Dissertation Date of issue 19th of December 2017 Author(s) Liv Sunnercrantz Sponsoring organization Title and subtitle Hegemony and the Intellectual Function: Medialised Public Discourse on Privatisation in Sweden 1988-1993 Abstract This dissertation offers a theorisation of the ways in which the intellectual function is performed through various subject positions. In the thesis, a post-Marxist approach to discourse theory is used to adress questions of discursive shifts, hegemony and the intellectual function. It is supplemented by a rhetorical political analysis in order to examine how practices and strategies involved in hegemonic struggles take place on a more fine-grained level of analysis. The theoretical argument is complemented through empirical work that analyses the medialised debate on privatisation in Sweden from 1988 to 1993. As a step in the theorisation process this empirical analysis applies elements of both post-Marxist discourse theory and rhetorical political analysis to shed new light on the intricacies of the intellectual function and the hegemonic processes in which it plays a key part. Using a post- Marxist terminology, the intellectual function is conceived broadly as the articulation and mediation of ideology, and analysed with the aid of conceptual devices derived from the rhetorical political analysis approach. Empirical analysis thus plays an active, constitutive role in the production of theory. This also implies that empirical analysis is not undertaken primarily as an end in itself, but rather because it is needed to support the theorisation process. Nevertheless, the analysis of the privatisation debate in Sweden elucidates important discursive changes that took place in this decisive period of recent Swedish history. The focus of the study is directed towards the shifts in ways of defining and speaking about the concept under contention (in this case, privatisation) in a relational setting of concepts and political positionings; the formation and performance of an intellectual function and the types of subject positions made available in the debate, and the rhetorical practices used to inhabit such positions; and the rhetorical and political strategies employed to achieve (relative) fixation of a particular definition of privatisation by making it (appear to be) commonsensical. The analysis shows how a common sense centred on the right to private ownership, is established in the privatisation discourse. By disentangling moral and efficiency-based arguments, the empirical analysis provides novel insights that contradict existing economistic assumptions about neoliberal politics and ideologies. By fleshing out the post- Marxist notion of an intellectual function, the study offers a way of conceptualising a post-foundationalist theory of intellectuals. Moreover, performances of the intellectual function are typologised into three ideal types: “experts”, “spokespersons”, and “public intellectuals”. The dissertation also points to processual changes in the representation of these ideal types in mainstream and alternative media. By analysing discursive practices of coalitions building and the articulation of political frontiers in the privatisation discourse, the empirical analysis elucidates constructions of unity and division among political subjcets. What emerges from these processes is a new hegemonic order which supplants the previous hegemonic formation – which became the common enemy across political lines – the social democratic welfare state. Key words Hegemony, Intellectuals, Discourse, Welfare State, Privatization, Neoliberalism Classification system and/or index terms (if any) Supplementary bibliographical information Language English ISSN and key title ISBN 978-91-7753-471-6 ISSN 1102-4712 Lund Dissertation in Sociology 116 Recipient’s notes Number of pages 340 Price Security classification I, the undersigned, being the copyright owner of the abstract of the above-mentioned dissertation, hereby grant to all reference sources permission to publish and disseminate the abstract of the above-mentioned dissertation. Signature Date 2017-11-10 4 Hegemony and the Intellectual Function Medialised Public Discourse on Privatisation in Sweden 1988-1993 Liv Sunnercrantz 5 Cover illustration by Liv Sunnercrantz Copyright Liv Sunnercrantz Faculty of Social Sciences Department of Sociology ISBN 978-91-7753-471-6 ISSN 1102-4712 Printed in Sweden by Media-Tryck, Lund University Lund 2017 6 ‘Tutti gli uomini sono intellettuali, si potrebbe dire perciò; ma non tutti gli uomini hanno nella societá la funzione di intellettuali (cosí, perché può capitare che ognuno in qhualche momento si frigga due uova o si cucisca uno strappo della giacca, non si dirà che tutti sono cuochi e sarti). Si formano così storicamente delle categorie specializzate per l’esercizio della funzione intellettuale […]’ Antonio Gramsci 7 Contents Acknowledgements 10 Abbreviations and Swedish Words 13 PART I Introduction 15 Chapter 1 Making Sense of “Intellectuals” and Hegemony in the Public Discourse on Privatisation 17 A post-Marxist take on discourse and hegemony 19 Opening the black box of the intellectual function 23 The Swedish privatisation debate, 1988-1993 26 Purpose and research questions 32 Thesis outline 33 PART II Theoretical Framework, Empirical Material, and Methodology 37 Chapter 2 A Post-Foundationalist Approach to the Study of Discourse and Hegemony 39 Discourse and the discursive: ontological implications 42 Hegemony, domination, ideology, and formations 46 Summary 65 Chapter 3 A Performative Reconceptualisation of “Intellectuals” 67 Performing an intellectual function 68 Enunciate positions and subject positions 73 Towards rhetorical political discourse analysis 80 Summary 89 Chapter 4 Empirical Material and Research Methods 91 Selection of timeframe and data 93 Considerations regarding