Table Of ContentACTA UNIVERSITATIS STOCKHOLMIENSIS
Stockholm Studies in Sociology
NEW
SERIES
38
Enemies of the People
Whistle-Blowing and the Sociology of Tragedy
Magnus Haglunds
©Magnus Haglunds and Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis , Stockholm 2009
ISSN 0491-0885
ISBN (978-91-86071-25-7)
Printed in Sweden by US-AB Tryck & Media, Stockholm 2009
Distributor: eddy.se ab, Visby, Sweden
Front cover image ©Gabriel Wentz. Based on the Attic figure “Dike beats Adikia with a hammer”
"The motif of falling is a shorthand for tragedy, whereas tragedy is always
about the question of whether failure is predetermined by fate, or whether
failure is the result of human agency. It poses the question: Can you of
your own free will work yourself into a situation with one inevitable
outcome: to fall, to fail or to die?"
Jan Verwoert on Bas Jan Ader
Contents
Preface..........................................................................................................xi
Acknowledgements.......................................................................................xv
Abbreviations..............................................................................................xvii
Chapter 1 Introduction.................................................................................19
The Problem................................................................................................................21
Enemies of the People.................................................................................................24
Whistle-Blowing Research...........................................................................................26
Confusion of Definition...........................................................................................29
Contradictory Empirical Findings............................................................................32
Ambivalence of the Whistle-Blower’s Status..........................................................37
Conclusions............................................................................................................42
Locating Whistle-Blowing.............................................................................................43
The Insider..............................................................................................................44
The Investigative Journalist....................................................................................45
The Spy..................................................................................................................45
The Agent Provocateur...........................................................................................46
The Wild Cat Striker...............................................................................................46
The Informer...........................................................................................................47
A Definition...................................................................................................................48
Chapter 2 Tragedy.......................................................................................50
The Pharmakos............................................................................................................50
A Few Opening Remarks.............................................................................................54
Earlier Usages of Tragedy in Sociological Thought.....................................................57
Tragedy and Social Order............................................................................................61
Tragedy and Spheres of Value....................................................................................63
Tragedy and Social Organization.................................................................................68
The Narrative Structure of Tragedy.............................................................................72
Recognition.............................................................................................................73
Flaw........................................................................................................................74
Reversal.................................................................................................................77
Suffering.................................................................................................................77
Purgation................................................................................................................79
The Contingency of Tragedy........................................................................................80
A Status Degradation Process.....................................................................................82
Chapter 3 Method........................................................................................85
Tragedy and Situational Analysis.................................................................................85
Principles of Selection..................................................................................................88
Written Material............................................................................................................90
Broadcasted Material...................................................................................................94
Adaption and Codification............................................................................................94
Approaching the Cases................................................................................................95
Mass Media—Some Considerations......................................................................95
Evaluating Assertions in a Controversy..................................................................98
On The Discrepancy Between Attitude and Action.................................................99
Analytical Approach..............................................................................................100
The Armaments Factory Engineer—Ingvar Bratt.......................................................102
The Seal-Hunting Inspector—Odd F. Lindberg..........................................................104
The Auditor—Paul van Buitenen................................................................................106
Chapter 4 Recognition...............................................................................109
Sensitive Information and Secrets.............................................................................110
The Limits of Organizational Transparency...............................................................113
The Hidden Society....................................................................................................114
Control Inside Organizations......................................................................................119
Circumspection.....................................................................................................119
Discipline..............................................................................................................122
Loyalty..................................................................................................................122
Context of Discovery..................................................................................................124
Chapter 5 Flaw..........................................................................................130
The Bystanders..........................................................................................................130
The Weakness of Strong Ties....................................................................................134
Marginal Man.............................................................................................................138
The Dilemma of Choice.............................................................................................140
Chapter 6 Reversal....................................................................................146
Talking Loud..............................................................................................................148
Decorum....................................................................................................................149
Conflict Management in the Limelight........................................................................152
Lack of Evidence..................................................................................................155
Insincerity.............................................................................................................160
Transgression of Accepted Social Rules..............................................................168
Chapter 7 Suffering....................................................................................172
Feeding the Affair.......................................................................................................174
Timing........................................................................................................................175
Two Prerequisites......................................................................................................176
The Coast is Threatened......................................................................................177
The Job Situation..................................................................................................179
Condemnation from the World Around......................................................................182
Hostile Mass Media..............................................................................................183
The People’s House.............................................................................................186
The Internal Strifes in Karlskoga................................................................................188
Charged with Comfort...........................................................................................190
Waiting for the Barbarians.........................................................................................191
Norway, Norway, is a Rotten Country........................................................................194
The End is Nigh.........................................................................................................197
A Sense of Belonging................................................................................................200
So, What is The Main Difference?.............................................................................201
Chapter 8 Purgation...................................................................................203
A Peep Hole Into The Back Region...........................................................................204
Hard Times Await.......................................................................................................206
A Stranger in Our Midst.............................................................................................208
To Weed Out: Expulsion............................................................................................212
Pollution and Avoidance............................................................................................216
Chapter 9 Conclusions..............................................................................219
References................................................................................................225
Description:Aristotle's theory of tragedy is in large based on King Oedipus, while Hegel's conception of tragedy relies heavily on Antigone (cf. Eagleton 2003: 43). tragedy.” (Diggins 1996: 10). Mere acquaintance and appreciation of tragic literature does not turn Weber into a full-fledged sociologist of tra
