Class and the changing nature of work: Testing hypotheses of deskilling and convergence among Swedish employees

The changing nature of work is often supposed to be of consequence for inte rest formation and political alliances between social classes. Three hypoth eses are tested: classes converge due to the deskilling of white-collar wor k or the upskilling of blue-collar work; lower white-collar workers essenti ally share the conditions of manual workers; the gender dimension cross-cut s the class dimension. Empirical analyses are carried out on the Swedish Le vel of Living Surveys in 1968, 1974, 1981 and 1991. The major trend is towa rds an upskilling, though jobs have not become less monotonous. There are s igns of class convergence, e.g., in wages and authority, but sharp differen ces remain. While class divisions exist for both men and women, gender diff erences within classes are substantial for physical working conditions and market capacity For several indicators, lower white-collar workers are expo sed to similar conditions as manual workers while men in thr highest stratu m stand out as the consistently most privileged.