ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the legitimizing discourse of the humanities in two different public debates in Sweden at the end of the twentieth century and at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The first debate concerned the marginalized role of the humanities and their relation to the broader public, while the second was strongly influenced by current research policies, which had a strong focus on scientific excellence, innovation, and economic growth. While reactive strategies dominated in the 1980s legitimizing discourse, I will argue that more generative strategies developed during the early 2000s, particularly through an attempt to redefine the concept of “usefulness” beyond the instrumental connotations commonly associated with the concept.
