Closure of the Stekenjokk mine in north-west Sweden

This chapter examines the reactions and strategies - individual and collective - designed to cope with mine closure in a small, isolated mining community in Sweden. It shows how actions that can be regarded as irrational responses if defined according to some efficiency-oriented concept that does not take into account the goals of the individual, may be regarded as effective or rational responses when considered from the perspective of an individual attempting to cope with particular problems in a given context. Finally, it stresses the need to understand reactions from the individual's perspective, and to take this into account at all stages of planning. To understand the reactions, however, it is first necessary to outline both the local socio-economic context within which they occur, and the conflicts that became visible in the light of the closure decision.