Industrial transformation (or revolution?) in Sweden Flashcards
1
Q
The industrial transformation in
Sweden: How can it be explained?
A
- Rapid economic growth! From annual growth
below 1% until 1820 to 1-2% per year from 1820 to 1920. - Sharp increase in proportion of industrial sector.
From 10 % of employment 1850 to 30% 1900. - Organisational change within manufacturing; centralised
production to ensure better control and bigger output. - Transition from handicraft to mechanised textile mills
from 1830. - Saw mills in Norrland from 1850.
- Demand
- More free labour movement: internal passports abolish in
1860
2
Q
Background: Early forms of capitalism
A
- From early modern to more modern elite
- Overlap between nobility and export traders
- The growth and development of the market
- Merchant House growth, 1740–1800
- Supplying capital to mines and ironworks
- Investments and ownership
- Debt and inbalance
- Imported goods despite protectionist policies
- Again, practice vs. policy
- Competition, only limited specialization
-Cereals - Activity away from the state but still depending on it
3
Q
Foreign capitalists and commercial banks
A
- Only some forms of early banking and stock trading
(Riksbank in 1668)- Central role: Supply credit and bank notes but not a
central bank
- Central role: Supply credit and bank notes but not a
- First modern private commercial bank: Stockholms
Ensklida Bank (SEB) 1856 - A.O. Wallenberg
- Loaned to industry and the state, railroads
- Gripenstedt, an early finance minister,
and new legislation, 1860s - Speculation and inflation
- Industry and commerce sensitive
to international fluctuations
4
Q
Gripenstedt System:
A
- Gripenstedt, an early finance minister,
and new legislation, 1860s - From merchantilistic regulation to Free
Trade Act 1865, railway that was part state
and part private, modern banking system. - “nationalistic liberalism which recognized
both the free interplay of the market
forces as well as the overall duty of the
state.” - Tone for the later 19th century: The state
would not allow major financial institutions
to fail
5
Q
Factors aiding Swedish industrializiation
A
- International environment
- Domestic demand
- Increased agricultural incomes → demand for
consumption goods and agricultural equipment. - Expansion of industrial sector.
- Massive investments in infrastructure.
- Increased agricultural incomes → demand for
- Proto-industrial legacy.
- Creates a pool of skilled labour (engineering
industry). - Creates a culture for responding to market signals.
- Partial motive for investments in infrastructure and
emergence of a modern banking sector.
- Creates a pool of skilled labour (engineering
- More efficient supply of credit.
6
Q
International context for Swedish industrial expansion
A
- Traditional view: export-led industrialisation.
- Mercantile policies
- An industrialising world needs Swedish raw
materials (wood, iron). - British free trade from 1846, Sweden follows
- Few competitors (existing investments in
infrastructure, central location). - Faster price increases for raw materials than for
finished goods.
7
Q
Emergence of wood-related industry
A
- Until 1842 regulated to supply iron mills and
conserve forests, but restrictions lifted to
encourage free enterprise - Increased international demand from the 1850s.
- Transition from water mills to steam mills in the
1870s → mills can be located at coastline to save
transportation costs. - Increased concentration to fewer and larger
concentrated units. - Securing forests and clearing rivers.
- Pulp and paper industry from the 1880s.
8
Q
Emergence of engineering industry
A
- Expanding from 1870, exploding from 1890.
- Focuses on domestic demand in the early
stages. - Large specialised export-oriented genius firms
formed around central innovations. - Many small multi-tasking craft-based
companies. - Slow mechanisation.
- Unable to compete on scale or price→ focus on
innovation and skilled workers.
9
Q
Emergence of the iron and steel industries
A
- Early modern origins
- Expansion from 1870
- Protective laws lifted (aufgehoben) and production could
expand
- Protective laws lifted (aufgehoben) and production could
- Innovation increases quality and lowers prices.
- Preserve charcoal (Aufbewahrung von Holzkohle)
- Concentration into fewer and larger units.
- Export expansion aided (mithilfe) by the communication
revolution (railways). - Iron works increasingly sell own iron rather than
relying on merchant houses to act as sellers.
10
Q
Emergence of modern textile industry
A
- Building on existing proto-industrial legacy
(Sjuhärad). (Südwest) - Helped by guild abolishment (1864) and
liberalization of labour market - Production centralised into factories from the
1830s. - Shift from wool and linen to cotton.
- Deindustrialisation of Hälsingland (middle east) and effect on women
- Movement of women to urban centres
- Production for the home market.
- Mostly female labour force.
11
Q
Food and drink industry
A
- Breweries and distilleries, sugar
- From handicraft in the household to early industry
- Increased demand, ban on home distilling
- Sugar beets and sugar refineries
- Single sugar monopoly by 20th century
12
Q
Agricultural developments (but still minor crises)
A
- Mechanisation after 1870.
- Driven by increased demand.
- Cereal prices sinking relative to increased animal
product prices. - Increased international competition in cereal
production leads to calls for protectionism in the
1880s. - Family farms increasingly combine cereal
production with animal production.
13
Q
Social aspects
A
- Factory life depends on reliability, punctuality and
endurance rather than craft skills. - Emergence of a working class identity and a labour
movement. - Increased real wages after 1850.
- Urbanisation.
- One million emigrates to U.S. and North America
between 1850 and 1910. - Popular movements: labour, temperance, free
church movement, sport, cleanliness etc.
14
Q
Dynamics of industrialism
A
- Does industrial development follow regular 40-year cycles in
Sweden? Lennart Schön thinks so! - General purpose technologies cluster together in ”development
blocks”, boost industrial development for 40 years. - Three phases:
- Transformation, innovations diffuse (20 years).
- Rationalisation, efficiency of innovations improved (20 years).
- Crisis, opportunities for further expansion exhausted.
- 1850 to 1890: development block based on steam engine,
railroads, factories, mechanisation. - 1890 to WWII: development block based on electricity, combustion engine, mass production.
15
Q
Summary
A
- How to define an industrial revolution/transformation?
- Ingredients: Population growth + Economic Growth;
Organizational + Institutional changes; Market
transformations (ie, demand)
- Ingredients: Population growth + Economic Growth;
- Factors aiding Swedish industrialization: International,
Domestic, Proto-Industrial Legacy; Credit Efficiency - Sectoral changes: Changes in power sources (water to
steam); degrees of mechanization; Dependency on
different markets (international vs domestic) - Social consequences: Now a more “regulated” life (ex)
selling labour vs. working for yourself).
