Humaniststudenten, prekariatet och jakten på ett anständigt liv
B2 Swedish listening practice · Standard Swedish · Curated for upper-intermediate learners
What does “prekariatet” mean in Swedish?
Prekariatet (“the precariat”) is the Swedish word for a class of workers stuck in precarious, low-paid, insecure jobs. The term was popularized by British economist Guy Standing in the late 2000s and crossed into Swedish political vocabulary. In Sweden, it shows up in debates about humanities students, freelancers, and gig workers chasing ett anständigt liv (“a decent life”).
This clip plays the irony: a Swedish humanities student declares herself part of prekariatet while admitting she has fonder (mutual funds), a sailboat, and a wealthy father who owns a major company. Swedish comedy loves this kind of self-aware bourgeois lament.
Vocabulary frequency
How common is the vocabulary in this B2 Swedish listening practice listening practice?
General Swedish frequency
Spoken Swedish frequency
Words above this video’s level
Quick glosses for vocabulary that goes beyond this video’s B2 level.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · OpenSubtitles 2018 (HermitDave) (spoken). Buckets approximate; exact ranks not stored.
- ▸In Swedish opinion columns about the labor market (Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter)
- ▸In Swedish stand-up about humanities-student life (Aron Flam, Emma Knyckare)
- ▸In Swedish university lecture halls in sociology and political science
- ▸In Swedish public-service radio (P1 Konflikt, Studio Ett)
- ▸In Swedish satirical sketch shows (Svenska nyheter, Tankesmedjan)