This article analyses Hammaren, a Swedish blend of Der Stümer, Der Hammer and domestic antisemitic publications, published by the most radical Swedish national socialists and antisemitic crusaders, launched in January 1943 and discontinued on 30 April 1945, the day of Adolf Hitler's suicide in Berlin. Hammaren fought a global war against an imaginary enemy, 'the Jew', described as evil and immensely powerful. 'The Jew' was responsible for everything wrong in the world, from embezzlement, petty theft and peddling to capitalism, Bolshevism and the ongoing world war, understood as an eschatological race war instigated by 'the Jew' and threatening the very existence of the white race. Hammaren, according to its contributors, was an enlightenment project; antisemitism meant self-defence against an overbearing, all-powerful enemy. This article investigates some of the strategies employed by Hammaren to spread rumours about the Jews, to 'expose' them and their henchmen, and thereby awaken Swedes to the dire situation.

In the early years of the 20th century the housing situation in Swedish cities were in bad condition and the ones that were most exposed were the working class. As a result of the industrial revolution Sweden evolved from a society of farmers to a country with a large industry. With this change people started to move to the cities for work, leaving the rural life and the farming, making a place to live in the city hard to come by. A proposed solution to this problem that became popular was to make it possible for workers to acquire a home that they themselves would own, this became known as egnahem. This became a social policy from the government in the form of a loan that workers could apply for with the intended use of build a home of their own. The change from a society of farming into an industrial society brought with it the rise of the Swedish welfare state, mainly steered by the Social democrats. 

The purpose of this paper is to give a greater understanding of the rise of the Swedish welfare state from the point of view of a specific social policy. Using a qualitative method based on Gøsta Esping-Andersen’s description of what features are signifying of a Social democratic welfare state motions from the Swedish parliament was examined. The arguments from 46 motions regarding egnahem during the period 1900-1950 was categorized and analysed. The conclusion was that the arguments in the motions should be regarded as an early trace of the Swedish Social democratic welfare state.

Research into the luxury debate in 18th century Sweden has focused on poetry and literature, the wording of decrees and the minutes of the Swedish riksdag. One source material largely left unexplored is the body of dissertations published by Swedish universities of the time. Not only is this an unfortunate omission as the universities were important intellectual centres, but also because they had a distinct culture, heavily influenced by Latin and the classics, in which luxury condemnations played a pivotal role. Building on the notion that ideas are best studied as arguments in debates, this master’s thesis examines twelve dissertations published in Sweden in the years 1722–1779 using models of conceptual change and argumentation analysis as theoretical approaches. The results indicate that the academic debate on luxury, through its focus on classical antiquity and conceptual definition, distinguished itself from other contemporary Swedish contributions to the debate, and that the interpretation of its characteristics must proceed from both the dissertation genre and the learned culture of university. The investigation furthermore stresses the importance of the university as a venue for reception of ideas in the latter part of the Early Modern Period and emphasises the dissertations as a central medium in this process.

Epidemiska pestutbrott var ett återkommande inslag under den tidigmoderna tiden. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka vilka möjligheter det svenska tidigmoderna samhället hade för att förhindra och stoppa pestutbrott under 1600-talet och tidigt 1700-tal. Tidigare forskning har främst undersökt pestutbrottet i Sverige 1710–1713 och epidemiologiska aspekter av pesten. Även om åtgärder för att minska smittspridning berörs i tidigare forskning saknas det ett perspektiv med fokus på samhällskapacitet och krishantering.

Katastrofriskreducering och statsbyggnadsprocesser används som teoretiska utgångspunkter för att förklara samhällets förmåga att hantera pestepidemier. Metodologiskt har analysen av källmaterialet delats upp i två delar: Den första delen analyserar det allmänna kunskapsläget kopplat till pesten och grundar sig på tre pestskrifter (rekommendationer) som fanns tillgängliga under perioden; den andra delen analyserar hur myndigheterna kronologiskt hanterar pesthotet och epidemin som bröt ut i Sverige 1710 utifrån sju kungliga förordningar som kungjordes i samband med utbrottet.

Undersökningen visar att grundläggande kunskaper om pestens natur fanns på samtliga analysnivåer (individ-, organisations- och samhällsnivå), däribland den viktiga insikten om att smitta spreds genom kontakt. Samtidigt saknades medicinska medel för att förhindra och bota pesten, vilket innebar att rekommenderade behandlingar oftast var mycket ineffektiva. Organisatoriskt försökte myndigheterna främst stoppa smittan genom att upprätthålla karantänzoner, hälsokontroller, och rökning som syftade till att rena luften. Myndighetsåtgärderna infördes ofta som en reaktion på ett stundande problem. Samhällets kapacitetsförmåga att förhindra smittans spridning tycks öka gradvis under utbrottet genom att myndigheternas organisatoriska kontroll utökades och att rörelsefriheten i riket därmed effektivare kunde begränsas. Utökade satsningar gjordes även på informationsspridning där kyrkan användes som främsta medel. Vidare studier behövs för att undersöka hur väl dessa övergripande och rikstäckande myndighetsåtgärder kunde upprätthållas och hur effektiv kyrkoorganisationen var som förmedlare av krisinformation, bland annat då missnöjet gentemot myndighetsåtgärder ofta var ekonomiskt eller religiöst motiverat.

The purpose of this study is to examine the schoolteachers and parents distribution of the responsibilities of the upbringing of children. To do so my aim is to examine what responsibilities was attributed to the schoolteachers as well as the parents and how the responsibilities could take shape. By utilizing protocols from the Childcare committee 1913-1924 (Barnavårdsnämnden) my aim is to link the questions to the material and examine how this manifested within the committee. I also examined if the committee applied a certain gender construction on the parenting.

I have applied a power perspective derived from Foucault aswell as the usage of Durkehims and Marx theories about the schools role in society and a gender perspective developed by Joan Scott and Yvonne Hirdman.

The results of the study shows that schoolteachers possessed a position of power where their responsibilities over the social upbringing of the pupils reached beyond the confinements of the schools. The schoolteacher was placed with disciplinary responsibilities and was expected to help raise pupils of high morality. Teachers held a high role of participation in the work of the committee and was expected to hold insights of their pupils home situations. The parents showed to be neglected far more in comparison with the teacher but parenthood was nonetheless expected to hold responsibilities. However, parents was not allowed to interfere with the responsibilities of the teacher whereas the teachers role was not constricted to the interior of the school. Regarding mother- and fatherhood the study shows that the mother was given a clear role of parenting while the fathers function was more of an authoritarian background figure. The father was expected to provide for the family and the mother to care for the upbringing.

The study proved that the committee was in a position of power where they could affect the tasks of parenthood. Meanwhile the committee granted schools and teachers positions of power where the teacher’s professional role extended beyond the schools. Within the sphere of parenthood a position of power was showing whereas the mother was attributed a larger responsibilities over the children’s upbringing but with the father acting as the authority of the family.          

Ainu studies still lack an inside perspective from the Ainu themselves though the importance of such perspective has been recognized for a deeper understanding of the Ainu by a few Ainu and Wajin [ethnic Japanese] postmodern scholar. To begin with, Ainu “self telling history” have been considered by researchers of Ainu studies to be “non-existent.” In other words, it can be said that the very act of dealing with modern history in relation to the Ainu by those materials was under a taboo for both the Ainu and the Wajin.

This article demonstrates that a history book of the Nibutani Community entitled “Nibutani” edited by Kaizawa Tadashi in cooperation with local residents is a rare ex- ample of modern Ainu history compiled by the Ainu themselves. The book covers all the details of each family with family trees though the Ainu hardly confessed them- selves as Ainu under severe discrimination at the time. Further most of its lifestories were collected through the interviewing of those families by Kaizawa himself. As far as the contents are concerned, some stories are related to the Ainu, whereas others are seemingly related to their personal life. Thus the book presented a variety of stories that represent the then lives of the local residents in the Nibutani Community.

At the moment when ‘Nibutani’ was published the Ainu did not voluntari- ly talk about their own history, and neither were expected to do so. ‘Nibutani’, which was completed by Kaizawa, connected the individually divided histories to each other, and made clear the relationships between the individuals and the community. As a result, the local residents in the Nibutani Community have ap- preciated this book for highlighting their own perspectives on their local history.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

The Journal des Dames et des Modes started its publication in 1797 and was de facto the only popular and lasting fashion magazine aimed towards women since the fall of its predecessor, even prior to 1789. This study argues that this fashion magazine both reflected and constituted the mindset of the new regime’s elite. The French Directoire (1795-1799) was a short-lived but intense regime characterised by its transformative nature and excesses to redefine society’s order and limits. The Journal, although trivial in aspect, participated in this effort by moralising a frivolous part of the female population through the entertainment it proposed, making it a fun yet pedagogical tool in the hands of the dominating bourgeois mindset. The periodical spread socio-cultural norms that were in accordance with the regime’s main concern – public good. And although not active per se in politics, women had their role to play as far as public utility was concerned, that of the civic mother – their designated form of citizenship. However, the readers of the Journal were more engaged in the mundane and cultural world, which demonstrated high permeability and reciprocity with politics. So, while women typically embodied the private sphere and personal concerns, contrary to men who represented the public sphere and public good, the women of the Directoire were the first ones to set the tendency of blurring lines between individual and common concerns – an ambivalent stance which is aligned with the transformative aspect of the regime. 

In the English socio-cultural landscape of the late eighteenth-century, the concept of kindness inhabited a place of importance for its proponents. For kindness was regarded as actions derived from the capacity of humans to do good. Which resulted in the experience and creation of good qualities, situations, and interactions. Kindness’ dictates allowed for its followers to argue the need to encourage better behavioural qualities in others. The dictates of kindness that allowed for this regulating ability came around due to the tightly entwined religious and social tenets of kindness. In the religious sphere, kindness was tied to being Christian through the ‘Law of Kindness.’ The ‘Law of Kindness’ argued that Christians must show kindness to every human being and creature despite everything. Christian theologians argued that kindness is part of humanity, which must be shown through the correct actions, mannerisms, and feelings of everyday life. Kindness fit neatly into the culture of sensibility and its associated philosophies of moral and sensibilities. In the social sphere proponents argued that kindness acted as a means of reinforcing social hierarchy and behavioural boundaries of English society. This occurred through dictates to people showing kindness and infuse kindness into their behaviour that varied according to social position and gender. 

This thesis aims to explain how politics in 14th century Scandinavia were structured by a set of rules or norms of conduct – rules which were neither codified nor enforced by any outside agency, yet had a very real impact on the patterns by which political action was conducted. Taking inspiration from historical anthropology, the study sets out to analyze the ways in which political tensions and relationships, primarily within the royal elite, were negotiated in various situations. The source material – mainly letters of treaties, but also contemporary literary sources – are treated as remains of political communication within a common discursive framework.

The findings of the study go against some established notions about politics in the 14th century that are prevalent in current Scandinavian research. On the whole, patterns of political behaviour during the period show great similarities to those of the earlier Middle Ages, despite the discontinuity implied by the idea of the 13th century as the era of "state formation" in Scandinavia. Rather, the kings and princes of the 14th century appear to have been ruled by quite similar norms of behaviour to those of their predecessors, albeit on a more complex scale.

The concepts of peace and justice are shown to have been central to the way that political action was legitimized. No functional difference can be shown to have been made between "feudal" or personal relations, and those of the state. Peace was conceived as a state of harmony, which could only be achieved through the establishment of mutual positive bonds, and an active striving for justice. The latter was achieved, both with the aid of mediators and negotiators, and through the demonstration of force, in patterns largely similar to the practice of feuding. Likewise, acts of supplication and reconciliation are shown to have played an active part in the way that political relations were reified during the process of ending an armed conflict.

Uppsatsen har undersökt hur debatten om studenternas alkoholvanor och nationernas alkoholservering i Uppsala såg ut mellan åren 1926–1935 i studenttidningarna Ergo, Polstjärnan och ett begränsat nationsmaterial. Alkoholforskningen i Sverige i sig är av ett stort omfång men detta område är relativt outforskat. Arbetet har även behandlat skriften ”De akademiska dryckessederna” av Axel Axelman då denna kom att kretsa kring nationernas alkoholservering.  Slutligen undersöktes ifall debatten präglades av konflikter i relationen mellan de studenter som var absolutister och de som inte var det. Utifrån en argumentationsanalys av pro et contra modellen så gavs följande resultat.

Debatten kom framförallt bestå av motargument som svar på de krav på torrläggning och hårdare restriktioner som krävdes för studenterna och nationerna. Argumenten för dessa krav var alkoholens destruktiva påverkan på studentens ekonomi, studentkulturen, samt andra samhällsgrupper. Även argument som hanterande studenternas traditioner och den yttrade glorifiering av alkoholen, genom hänvisning till dels sångböcker eller studenthistorian med gluntarna, lyftes fram som pro argument för torrläggning. Motargumenten kom att påpeka att sådana krav skulle förvärra situationen gällande studenternas alkoholkonsumtion. Studentnationerna argumenterades även för att ha en positiv uppfostrande roll, något som skulle kunna vara i fara om kraven gick igenom. Studentkulturen kom antingen att försvaras, eller så argumenterades att dess förfall berodde på nymodigheter som kavajskutt eller gasquer. Debatten kom även präglas av argument för att studenten var orättvist behandlad från flera håll.

Resultatet visar också på att debatten hade tendenser av konflikter mellan absolutister och icke absolutister där det var framförallt nykteristerna som var de utsatta. Detta kunde bestå av skällsord eller att nervärderande agerande som kopplades samman med nykterister.  Studien visar även på att Axel Axelmans skrift fick till viss del ett positivt bemötande då vissa ansågs den nyttig i upplysningssyfte samt att den ansågs påvisa problemen med de akademiska alkoholsederna.

Dock kom majoriteten av artiklarnas bemötande av skriften att vara negativt ställda då skriften anklagades för att vara falsk, innehålla felciteringar, dra felaktiga slutsatser och måla upp en felaktig bild gentemot verkligheten.

By the turn of the twentieth century a distinct 'social domain' - along with its constituent parts, problems and internal dynamics - was turned into a political entity, and a concern for state bureaucracies existed across the industrializing world. Specific motivations for this trend may have varied from location to location, but included arguments for higher industrial productivity and less political discontent, often intertwined with a humanitarian impulse in calls for better housing, expanded public health or improved working conditions. As has been well documented, the politicization of the social domain in early twentieth-century Britain owes much to the consolidation of British sociology as a distinct discipline. Yet while the link between the rise of social politics and sociology has been established with regard to Britain, little has been said about the occurrence of this coupling elsewhere in the twentieth-century British Empire. This article aims to rectify that omission by showing the interplay between newly raised social concerns of the colonial administration in the Bombay Presidency, Western British India, and the establishing of sociological research within the borders of the Presidency around the time of the First World War. The article will explore how the colonial administration in Bombay planned to meet new demands for sociological knowledge in colonial state policy, how sociology was subsequently introduced into the Presidency as a research subject, and how new sociological methods were applied in actual colonial government.

In this article I relate Indian revolutionaries Virendranath Chattopadhyaya’s and Lala Har Dayal’s experiences of exile in Sweden to recent attempts to reformulate perspectives on Indian anti-colonial protest.  These attempts have in various ways focused on the global dimension of Indian anti-colonialism, showing how displaced Indian intellectuals and activists connected outside the Subcontinent, to labour for the freedom of India.  While appreciating the need for a fresh approach to studies of anti-colonial movements, this article issues a note of caution.  Several recent studies treat life in exile as one of connectivity and creativity.  In fact, connectivity becomes so important for these studies that it is only when in conversation with others sharing their objective that the views of Indian activists are included. Yet, many exiles lived long periods nearly or actually disconnected from the movement of which they wished to form a part.  Such moments of silence are wishfully glossed over in the emerging literature. By way of revisiting Har Dayal and Chattopadhyaya in Sweden, I suggest that periods of silence or disconnection are important, simply because they existed, and formed a decisive part of the reality of exile.  By omitting them, one risks romanticising exile, and subjecting experiences of displacement to academic programmatic concerns, however noble the cause.