Johan Svanberg

Johan Svanberg is Professor in the Department of Economic History and International Relations at Stockholm University. His research focuses on labor history, migration history, and the history of European integration, with particular emphasis on Swedish and international labor movements, World War II refugees, and post-war labor migration.

His research interests include labour history, migration history, European integration history, oral history methodologies, and the historical development of labor market relations. Svanberg has conducted extensive interview-based studies examining how segregated labor markets in Sweden were created and re-created through migration patterns, with attention to gender, ethnicity, age, and class dimensions. His work analyzes international, national and local labor market relations within historical contexts.

Svanberg has led multiple significant research projects including:

• Trade-union internationalism and international employer loyalty (ongoing)
• The Swedish textile and garment industry and the European integrations 1957–1995
• Between free and unfree labour. Labour market relations and the welfare society in Sweden 1880-2022
• A Forte-funded study on trade union work in metal and engineering industries
• A VR-funded project on labor relations in textile and clothing industries
• Research on German women recruited to the Swedish garment industry in the 1950s (FAS/Forte)

His 2010 doctoral thesis examined the reception of Second World War refugees and initial post-war labor migration to Sweden, with specific focus on Estonian migrants and workplace relations at a southern Swedish car factory. His research methodology frequently incorporates oral history approaches to document working lives and labor market dynamics.