The Predicament of Privilege: Inequality and Ambivalence in Contemporary Scandinavian Culture

Devika Sharma from Department of Arts and Cultural Studies is presenting her new book The Predicament of Privilege: Inequality and Ambivalence in Contemporary Scandinavian Culture.

Is privilege a problem? Scandinavians ask, Is this okay?— and wrestle with the answer. A twenty-first century paradox has emerged in contemporary Scandinavian societies: the region’s deeply ingrained egalitarian ideals exist uneasily alongside its undeniable global privilege.

In The Predicament of Privilege, Devika Sharma examines this tension, exploring how a well-intentioned desire to “do good” collides with an unsettling realization: the very structures that enable ethical consumption, charitable donations, and humanitarian action are themselves embedded in a system of exploitation.