Open Seminar at Score: Staffan Edling

Seminar

Date: Thursday 13 November 2025

Time: 10.00 – 11.30

Location: Score, Frescativägen 14 A, Stockholm University

Welcome to a seminar on Thursday 13 November 2025 with Staffan Edling, PhD, Sociology, Lund University.

Political Epistemology: Knowledge and Advocacy in Trade Union Research

Epistemically oriented political actors – e.g. think-tanks, NGOs, or the research units of larger organisations – are often understood as knowledge brokers, bridging academia and politics. The underlying assumption is one where knowledge is predominantly produced in academia, for later implementation in politics. Consequently, more scholarly attention has been paid to how such organisations and actors e.g. form networks or mobilise different forms of capital, than to the research processes within political organisations. Political organisations, nonetheless, need to understand the world around them in order to act, and very frequently employ researchers to produce epistemic claims, develop policy and act as experts.

Drawing on interviews, participant observation and document analysis centred around the research unit of Swedish trade union organisation LO, I argue that paying attention to political research processes centres issues of the relationship between knowledge and power, giving new purchase on old questions. Drawing on the case of LO, I suggest three different phenomena to pay attention to in the study of political knowledge: how collective interests are built into research, how political representation turns experiential knowledge into evidence, and how political formats act as epistemic infrastructure.

The seminar will be held in English.

Photo: Juliana Wiklund

 

Last updated: October 16, 2025

Source: Score

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