Sociology in Sweden ― A History

This book offers a brief but comprehensive overview of the history of sociology in Sweden from the prewar period to the present day. After recounting its prewar beginnings, Anna Larsson and Sanja Magdalenic trace the development of sociology in Sweden from its establishment in the Swedish university system in the 1940s and 1950s, via the critical 1960s, through the crises of the 1970s and 1980s, to the challenges posed by transformations in Swedish society and university organization in the 1990s and 2000s. They demonstrate the close relationship between the evolution of social science and that of the Swedish welfare state, the integral role played by gender, and sociology's influence on boundary making processes. They also draw attention to the contested character of historiography by highlighting how the disciplinary foundation story of sociology in Sweden has been constructed and reconstructed throughout its life.

Anna Larsson is Associate Professor of the History of Science and Ideas at Umea University, Sweden. Among her books are A Science of the Modern Society: Establishing Sociology in Sweden (2001), and the co-authored Social Science in Context: Historical, Sociological and Global Perspectives (2013).

Sanja Magdalenic is Programme Office at Socialstyrelsen (The National Board of Health and Welfare), Sweden. She holds a PhD in sociology from Stockholm University, and is the author of Gendering the Sociology Profession: Sweden, Britain and the US (2004). She has completed research and published on professions, organizations, gender issues, history of sociology and women pioneers in sociology.