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

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 species; as well as the ...

who specialized in

labor history Labor history is a sub-discipline of social history which specializes on the history of the working classes and the labor movement. Labor historians may concern themselves with issues of gender, race, ethnicity, and other factors besides class ...

and the history of the

welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the State (polity), 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 oppor ...

Biography

He was from

Haugesund Haugesund () is a municipalities of Norway, municipality and List of towns and cities in Norway, town on the North Sea in Rogaland county, Norway. As of December 2023, the municipality of Haugesund has a population of 37,855. The vast majority of ...

. He received his

candidate A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group (sociology), group or election to an offic ...

in 1979, and later the

dr.philos. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

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 ''Arbeiderbevegelsens historie i Norge'' () is a six-volume work about the labour movement history of Norway. It was released between 1985 and 1990 by Tiden Norsk Forlag. It was not the first work about the history of the Norwegian labour moveme ...

'', the history of the Norwegian

workers' movement The labour movement is the collective organisation of Working class, working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It ca ...

. 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 () 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 National Holidays Act, ...

, 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 colloquial language. colloquialism, Colloquially, "significant other" is used as a gender-neutral language, gender-neutral term for a person's partner in an intimate relatio ...

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 () is a public university, public research university in Bergen, Norway. As of 2021, the university had over 4,000 employees and 19,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 1946 consolidating several sci ...

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