Konstnären, kombinatören och arbetslöshetsförsäkringen. En rättsvetenskaplig analys av konstnärens livschanser.

Abstract

The Swedish unemployment insurance system has developed in an industrial context. The constructions of the rules are still based on the standard of a full-time, permanently employed man. The system is based on the dichotomy of entrepreneurs and employees and the legal term “entrepreneur” is a clear divider of who is entitled to reimbursement or not. Hybrid entrepreneurs is a group that has difficulties in matching the requirements for reimbursement Furthermore the rules are poorly adapted to contractors. The progression away from the industrial society to a service-information-knowledge based and network society has led to significant changes in the labor market and the patterns of supply. Today the labor law has become more and more dissolved, causing a so-called fake and involuntary entrepreneurship. These changes in the labor market at large have long been a reality for people in the artist’s labor market (literature, art and design, music, theatre, dance and film). The artist’s labor market is dynamic, flexible, insecure and unpredictable. An artist’s working situation is often characterized by large income variations and it is not uncommon for artists to have an upwards of six employers and/or clients a year. Entrepreneurs, but also hybrid entrepreneurs, are more common amongst artists than in the population at large. By using Weber’s concept life chances, Grusky and Weeden’s concept microclass, and Bourdieus’ description of the field of cultural production, this paper studies artists’ lack of control over economic resources. This paper shows that the rules contribute to the limitation of artists’ life chances. This thought is supported through an analysis of four court cases. The court cases are about (a) hybrid entrepreneurs and the rules on secondary employment, (b) contractors and the assessment of independency when hiring self-employment companies, and (c) the requirement on being at the disposal of the labor market and the professional practice of the unemployment insurance fund that says that artists shall be considered employed from the first day of rehearsal to the last day of performance. The limited life chances of artists are a threat to a diversified cultural life and to the role of art as a bearer of democratic values.