Øyvind Bjørnson (1 January 1950 – 3 December 2007) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

who specialized in

labor history Labor history or labour history is a sub-discipline of social history which specialises on the history of the working classes and the labor movement. Labor historians may concern themselves with issues of gender, race, ethnicity, and other fac ...

and the history of the

welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equita ...

. He hailed from Haugesund. He took the cand.philol. degree in 1979, and later the dr.philos. degree in 1987 with the thesis ''Den nye arbeidsdagen''. In 1990 he published ''På klassekampens grunn'', volume two of the work '' Arbeiderbevegelsens historie i Norge'', the history of the Norwegian

workers' movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

. He then covered the welfare state history with the books ''100 år for bedre arbeidsmiljø'', published in 1993 at the 100th anniversary of the

Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority The Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority ( no, Arbeidstilsynet) is a Norwegian government agency under the Ministry of Labour. It is responsible for supervising the implementation of the Working Environment Act, the Annual Holidays Act, the Natio ...

, and ''Langsomt ble landet et velferdssamfunn'', published in 1994 together with his

life partner The term significant other (SO) has different uses in psychology and in colloquial language. Colloquially, "significant other" is used as a gender-neutral term for a person's partner in an intimate relationship without disclosing or presuming ...

and colleague Inger Elisabeth Haavet. His last work, ''Haugesund 1914-1950. Dei trødde sjøen'' published in 2004, was about his hometown, linked with broader global economic trends. He was a professor at the

University of Bergen The University of Bergen ( no, Universitetet i Bergen, ) is a research-intensive state university located in Bergen, Norway. As of 2019, the university has over 4,000 employees and 18,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 194 ...

since 1993. Bjørnson died in December 2007 following a long-term lung illness.

References

1950 births 2007 deaths 20th-century Norwegian historians Labor historians Academic staff of the University of Bergen People from Haugesund {{Norway-historian-stub