The Beatles and The Twelve Dreams of Dr Sardonicus
Question: What were the best albums following up the message of the Beatles, on Sgt Pepper and other albums? My answer: There were many good follow-ups of course, due to the seminal nature of the Beatles effort. I think the Spirit album “Twelve Dreams of Dr Sardonicus” is one of the best, balancing right at […]
New music
Here are three great LPs discovered recently: Toumani and Sidiki – father and son playing koras – dreamlike, lifelike, rythmic (all the more flowing, without percussion or drums). Showing how world music is coming of age, this is a new classic. Blue Oyster Cult: Secret Treaties (1974), reissued by Speaker’s Corner 2014. This album was […]
Trotsky: History of the Russian revolution
I started my Christmas holiday with some new crime novels. This one, however, got the best of them. By accident I pulled it out from my book shelf, I had not read it since the early 1970s – and it got a hold on me. Much more exciting than the crime novels. The excitement comes […]
The drama of inequality
How come capitalism does not work out, or only partially, according to the textbook rules of universalist free market competition and meritocracy? How come capitalism even in relatively gender-equal countries has stabilized at a two thirds income rule for women, compared to men? Why is inequality and discrimination still so common in global working life? […]
A 1999 overview of my research
In 1999, professors R. W. Connell, Jorunn Solheim and Dag Østerberg evaluated my research. The main part of their evaluation is presented below. Competence evaluation of Øystein Gullvåg Holter (excerpts) “March 1999 “Øystein Gullvåg Holter applied in December 1997 for a competence evaluation as researcher I (professorial level) at the Work Research Institute. On the […]
They laughed at me
It is only recently that I have found a 2006 publication of the Radical economy network (RØST) in Norway. This is an anthology with excellent contributions from economists like Charlotte Koren, Hilde Bojer and Erling Barth. In my view, it mainly shows the relative negligence of material and economic approaches, even in the Norway welfare […]
Economic change needed for gender equality – new reports
Evidence is building up in support of a critical materialist view of gender inequality. Already in 2008, a Norwegian parliamentary report concluded that the wage gap between the genders had scarcely changed, over the last three decades – despite a lot of other change, regarding gender (NOU 2008:6 Kjønn og lønn). (Norwegian 2008 report cover […]
Getting ill from divorce?
In Norway, now, there is a debate on sick leave – why is it so much higher for women, than for men. A new report finds that divorce has a big effect on sick leave, especially at the time of the divorce, but later also. The long term higher sick leave effect of breakup or […]
Gender equality and gay rights
A new study of attitudes to gay rights has been published, with more coverage than before, combining data from several international surveys and country statistics. The report shows that generally, gay rights have gained some more acceptance over the last decades, but the main picture is one of strong global variation. Testing for predictors of […]
Norway’s gender in/equality – working life 2014
In a text published October 29 in the newspaper Dagbladet, I argue that the plan of the conservative government to shorten the father quota and make it transferable to the mother is not a wise policy. Fathers’ rights are taken away, in the name of free choice, without testing if the situation is right. All […]