The Royal Touch Under Neoliberalism: The Swedish King’s Consecration of ‘Leadership’ through World Scouting

In this paper, I examine how the formally powerless Swedish King consecrates neoliberalism by promoting the idea of ‘leadership’ in his role as the Honorary Chairman of the World Scout Foundation, a global organization dedicated to educating and fostering young people all over the world. ‘Leadership...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Critical sociology 2024-11
Main Author: Holmqvist, Mikael
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:In this paper, I examine how the formally powerless Swedish King consecrates neoliberalism by promoting the idea of ‘leadership’ in his role as the Honorary Chairman of the World Scout Foundation, a global organization dedicated to educating and fostering young people all over the world. ‘Leadership’, which stresses people’s individual responsibility, entrepreneurship, activity and productivity, and positive thinking, is a critical component of neoliberalism and the market-based society, regarded both as a political ideology, and a way of life. The paper has two contributions to sociology: First, I manifest the status of monarchs as contemporary elites, that is, powerful actors with unproportionate access to economic, social, cultural, communicative and organizational resources. Second, I propose how elites’ consecration is not only limited to sanctifying certain groups of people/classes in contemporary society, but include the social and moral elevation of ideologies, ideas and human capabilities as well.
ISSN:0896-9205
1569-1632
DOI:10.1177/08969205241297827