Majsa Allelin

Research and areas of Interest
My research areas often concern the relationship between people’s concrete living conditions and their learning processes. The aim is to examine how social structures shape and are shaped by particular groups, what this implies for societal reproduction and transformation, and how individuals experience structural conditions in everyday life, such as in school, the workplace, and in contexts of urban segregation.

In a broader sense, I am also interested in theories of economic policy. In this regard, the development and transformation of the Swedish welfare state has constituted a central focus, particularly the Swedish education system. Another area of interest concerns innovation and technological knowledge as both intellectual-historical and empirical concepts.

Schooling for profit: on the marketization of students' everyday life
In 2019, I completed my doctoral dissertation titled Schooling for Profit: On the marketization of students' everyday life. The aim of the dissertation can, in its broadest sense, be formulated as understanding students’ role in school and the role of schools in a market-capitalist society. More precisely, it sought to make visible the societal role assigned to schools and students within contemporary market adaptation, and how this conditioned pedagogical practice, segregation and students’ autonomy in everyday life. In 2027, a revised monograph in English will be published at Brill.

Between resignation and future prospects: educational pathways and learning among youth in “disadvantaged” urban areas
In 2025, the research program Between resignation and future prospects: A multidisciplinary research program on educational pathways and learning among youth in “disadvantaged” urban areas, based empirically at the University of Gothenburg, was completed. The program comprised three distinct but related research projects. Briefly, these projects examined the conditions of students in socially disadvantaged schools and areas, and investigated whether the organization and social mobilization of informal learning taking place in these areas can be understood as compensation for shortcomings in formal schooling. Furthermore, the research also examined how informal learning can enrich the existing school environment.

Innovation work as learning processes
My ongoing research project, Innovation work as learning processes, focuses on the social and organizational processes underlying technological development, which in turn contributes to broader societal change. To gain deeper knowledge of how creative work 1) develops and gains organizational and collective recognition, and 2) becomes incorporated into company production, I follow individual actors in their daily work. The study’s approach therefore involves a multilevel analysis, in which both individual and collective processes are understood in relation to one another. Overall, the project addresses a recurring tension between craftsmanship, professional judgment, and collective learning, on the one hand, and organizational and economic demands for efficiency, profitability, and competitiveness, on the other.

Keywords: Political Economy, Social Reproduction, Schooling, Learning, Innovation