Metaphorum 2026 · Toward Resilient and Ethical Viable Systems

Algedonics in practice? Notes from Swedish collective bargaining

In the swedish collective bargaining system, delegations from union and employer organizations meet at the highest level to set forth rules for labor relations at large, which are then elaborated step wise at descending levels of organization and increasing levels of specificity. The purpose of my contribution is to 1) show that this system substantively conforms to the viable systems model, and 2) propose two readings of the circumstances required for this system to emerge. My method is a survey of historical and current accounts of two separate moments at which the system emerged, once during and after WW2, and more recently in the 90’s. My findings show that the system seems to have cohered under similar circumstance both times, managing essentially to unite labor and capital as the complementary halves of an algedonic system. Each time is a conjuncture of external strain and uncertainty and a relative balance of forces between the sides. Moreover, labor and capital were organized symmetrically, making it possible for the sides to complement each other and link up. My contribution is a valuable account of how a viable system arises when needed given certain conditions. To understand the process, I ask whether it is better understood as an existing layer of systems facing a new caliber of problem, and cohering to meet it, or as two adversarial systems joining and cohering from the top down. This is relevant to the themes Toward resilient and ethical viable systems, and A time whose ideas must come. Speaker: Franz Spengler

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