Fredrik Sandberg

Associate Professor, Senior Lecturer
Ph.D. in Pedagogy

Research and Teaching Areas

• Adult Education
• Workplace Pedagogy
• Validation
• HRD (Human Resource Development)
• Recognition and Education
• Critical Social Theory
• Trust
• Qualitative Methods

Over the years, my research has revolved around three main themes. In my dissertation, I examined the validation of the knowledge and competencies of healthcare assistants. The study was based on a small-scale field study, primarily consisting of interviews with healthcare assistants and the instructors involved in the validation process. The empirical data were theoretically analyzed through the lens of critical social theory, with Habermas' concept of communicative action being central. The analysis also drew on Axel Honneth's theory of recognition. The analysis followed a theoretically reconstructive approach.

As a postdoctoral researcher, I participated in a research project focusing on adult education and citizenship. My responsibilities included conducting interviews with students and teachers in adult education (komvux). A total of 30 interviews were carried out. Prior to the interviews, students were asked to document their perspectives on citizenship through photos, videos, and audio recordings. These materials formed the basis for the interviews. The project primarily involved discourse analyses of the empirical data, interpreted mainly through the lens of Foucault's ideas on governing rationalities. However, in an article for which I was responsible, the concept of heterotopia was also included in the analysis. Furthermore, I conducted independent analyses of the empirical data from the perspective of Axel Honneth's theory of recognition, resulting in a self-authored article.

Currently, my focus lies on the concept of trust, and I am currently writing essays on love and trust. Theoretical frameworks for these texts include thinkers such as Alain Badiou, Erich Fromm, Axel Honneth, Niklas Luhmann, and others. These texts also explore the intersection between psychoanalysis and critical sociology.

A common thread in my research is a broad theoretical interest.

My teaching responsibilities mainly involve the Bachelor's program in Human Resources, as well as the Master's program in HR and the behavioral science program.