The Section for the Sociology of Literature

The Section for the Sociology of Literature in Uppsala was founded in 1965 and has since been a central node for Nordic research on the relations between literature and society.

The Section covers research that sheds light on the entire literary process historically as well as in the present – the paths and conditions of literary works from author to reader, via publishers, critics, translators, distributors, bookstores, libraries and schools. In our contemporary book and reading culture, where digitization, streamed audiobooks and AI fundamentally change the conditions for writing and reading, the sociology of literature is more relevant than ever.

The Section has special expertise in book trade and publishing studies, reading studies, literature and media, popular genre fiction, and children’s literature. The research that is conducted is empirically and often quantitatively oriented, for instance using methods such as bibliometrics, distant reading and data analysis, surveys and interviews. The Section has a distinct interdisciplinary approach as well as collaborations with a broad array of stakeholders beyond academia, such as publishing houses, bookstores, book streaming services, and libraries.