ABSTRACT
The fourth ICTs and Society Conference “Critique, Democracy and Philosophy in 21st Century Information Society” in Uppsala offered me an opportunity to return to Uppsala University (after fifty years), where I studied French, Russian, psychology, sociology, pedagogics, and ethnography. Why did I study computing and work life? From childhood I knew what huge difference electricity could make. My father was an electrician and I went with him to farms that had not experienced electricity before. People around me started to take courses in computer programming, a new type of job in the ’60s. I did my PhD in educational psychology at Gothenburg University. In 1972, after receiving my PhD degree, I was given a commission from the Swedish Central Trade Union of Salaried Employees (TCO) to explore the working environment for employees, especially the so-called psychosocial work environment. One year later I presented a report on my findings to their congress. One of the scariest things at the time was computers—people were very afraid of huge unemployment and afraid that the computers would take over.
