Folket på finansmarknaden?

Begreppet folkaktier och idén om finansmarknadens demokratisering under 1990-talets privatiseringsvåg i Sverige

Abstract

This article contributes to discussions on Sweden’s rapid and thorough financialization process by examining how the people’s shares concept has been used in both public discourse and marketing campaigns since the mid-20th century to increase shareholding among the Swedish public. It focuses on the privatization of state-owned companies during the mid-1990s and how the centre-right government applied the people’s shares concept in marketing design and rhetoric to advance the idea of financial market democratization. The analysis covers the share sales campaigns of forest management company AssiDomän and mortgage lender Stadshypotek as well as the popular educational “People’s shares project”, conducted by lobbying organization Aktiefrämjandet. The article reveals that from heated political-ideological discussions on people’s shares and owner democracy around 1960, the concept was depolitized, emerging as related to the tradition and reliability of both large Swedish industry and welfare state (“People’s home”) ideals.