Higher Seminar in Media and Communication: From belfry to minute chase.

Daniel Bodén, PhD, and senior lecturer in ethnology at Södertörn university presents his book “Från vällingklocka till minutjakt” (In English: “From belfry to minute chase”).

Our society claims to protect individual freedom, but for many people freedom ends every time they clock in for work. Never in the past have employers had so much power to manage their workers in detail. But the will to control labor runs like a common thread throughout centuries.
In the book, Bodén provides social historical insights into contemporary discussions on surveillance in working life. He examines the technologies used to increasingly control work. The result is a story about Sweden's economical transformations from the late 18th century until today, about mistrust and not least about an intensifying hunt for minutes.