Class in TGwtDT

"In her world, this was the natural order of things. As a girl she was legal prey, especially if she was dressed in a worn black leather jacket and had pierced eyebrows, tattoos, and zero social status."

-Chapter 12, page 249

A large portion of Marxism deals with the importance and the struggle between social classes. This social class structure is clearly evident in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Lisbeth

Even though she works for a successful cyber security firm, Lisbeth is viewed as part of the lower class because of her categorization as socially incompetent. Due to this, she is seen as vulnerable to people in higher classes who go on to oppress her in the book. However, in this digital age, information is available to people independent of their various social classes and genders, and can be used accordingly against systematic oppression, just as Salander does. Thus, in the novel, technology functions as a useful tool for those rendered defenseless in a corrupt society.

Mikael

The Swedish economy is ripe for corruption, and because the men who run it have an interest in keeping themselves in power, Mikael maintains that journalists must exist as "watchdogs" in order for the system to function properly and ethically. Blomkvist clearly considers himself one of those journalistic watchdogs, a mediator between the social classes. Blomkvist’s status as a reporter and Millennium’s importance as a political magazine helps to restore the credibility Blomkvist lost due to his libel conviction.