Capital, care, and social reproduction : migrant families and fragility of green regional revitalisation

The Northvolt factory in northern Sweden, Europe’s largest green industrial investment, was envisioned as a catalyst for regional revitalization, attracting workers from across Sweden and internationally. Yet financial difficulties and eventual bankruptcy exposed both the fragility of such large-scale industrial projects and the vulnerabilities of those who relocated in search of opportunity. We studied the experiences of migrant families through the narratives of spouses of Northvolt workers, exploring how they navigated both relocation to Sweden and the economic crisis triggered by Northvolt’s collapse. Our data comprises one focus group interview with seven women and seven individual interviews. Drawing on Katz’s framework of resilience, reworking, and resistance, we show how families devised strategies that were shared across household members, rather than undertaken individually. These strategies were deeply gendered, with women often absorbing much of the unpaid labour that sustains social reproduction and household stability, while men assumed the role of breadwinners. Our study highlights how green industrial transitions are shaped not only by capital and technology but also by the largely invisible, gendered work of social reproduction that underpins both family life and large-scale green investments in peripheral regions.