A field experiment on ethnic discrimination among local Swedish public officials

This study presents an innovative field experiment exploring ethnic discrimination in contacts between local public officials and members of Swedish society. Using a correspondence study design, fictitious individuals with Arabic- and Swedish-sounding names contacted Swedish municipalities via email, asking questions about access to preschools. The findings indicate disadvantageous treatment of individuals with Arabic-sounding names in terms of the informal tone of the replies, as Swedish-sounding names were replied to in a friendlier, more welcoming way. Regarding the more formal aspects of the emails – i.e., whether they were replied to at all and the questions posed were directly answered – no statistically significant signs of discrimination emerge (although differences were of some substantial size, to the disadvantage of Arabic-sounding names). Still, informal disadvantageous treatment is sufficient cause for concern and noteworthy in the case of Sweden, considering its reputation as being egalitarian, immigration friendly and democratically well functioning.     

Intergenerational income mobility in Gothenburg,Sweden, 1925–1958, before the rise of the welfare state

This paper investigates intergenerational mobility at the household level by using tax data for the city of Gothenburg, Sweden for two periods, 1925–1947 and 1936–1958, before the rise of the welfare state. Young households (selected persons under 18) are followed and income mobility (defined as changes in household disposable equivalent income) is followed across generations. In addition, socioeconomic mobility (defined as changes in the socioeconomic status of household head) is followed across generations. These two approaches of measuring mobility will tell us to what extent sons and daughters follow in their fathers' footsteps before the rise of the welfare state in Sweden. The results indicate significant intergenerational income mobility for both periods, while the period from 1925–1947 seems to be more mobile. In addition, socioeconomic mobility increased during the last period, 1936–1958. Hence, even before the rise of the welfare state, Sweden had high intergenerational income mobility.     

Bullying in Context: An Analysis of Psychosomatic Complaints Among Adolescents in Stockholm

Using multilevel modeling, this study examined how different types of bullying, involving both peers and teachers, relate to psychosomatic health complaints. Data were obtained via the Stockholm School Survey from 41,032 ninth- and eleventh-grade students in the years 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010. Results showed that students involved in bullying as either a bully, a victim, or both a bully and a victim displayed poorer psychosomatic health than those not involved in bullying. Victims of peer-bullying also reported significantly poorer health than perpetrators. Two class-aggregated measures of bullying remained positively associated with ninth-grade student health complaints even when their individual-level analogues were taken into account. Thus, both the proportion of victims of teacher-bullying and peer-bullying in the school class appeared to generate health problems that go beyond the directly exposed students. However, an interaction revealed that the latter association was confined to female students only.     

The use of 13C NMR spectroscopy in forensic drug analysis

¹³C NMR spectroscopy has been used for analysis of fourteen compounds which, according to Swedish laws are defined as narcotic drugs or are substances often found in combination with these drugs. The carbon-13 NMR method seems to be well suited for analysis of complex forensic drug mixtures because no preliminary separation of components is required.     

Sweden in 1930 and the 1930 census

The primary goal of censuses has always been to collect reliable information on the state’s population and provide a basis for governmental decision-making. This study examines the categories used in the 1930 census and links them to the context in which they were generated. We treat the census as a tool of state power, which can be discerned from the definitions of its categories and the way in which statistics are collected and used. The guiding question of the study was “how does the 1930 census differ from previous censuses and how can these differences and changes be explained?” We find that as in earlier censuses, Statistics Sweden used extracts from the parish books on the individual level to collect information for the 1930 census, but also used diverse supplementary sources including tax registers, income tax returns and language surveys. Thus, unlike in most countries, Sweden did not send out census takers or questionnaires to the population. Many of the new or updated variables we see in the 1930 census such as income, wealth, and number of children born, can be related to the political and social debate concerning the poor working class and the establishment of the welfare state. The inclusion of categories such as ethnicity, religion, and foreign nationality can be seen as part of a normative approach wanting to control, monitor and correct deviant elements of the Swedish population.

Sweden has several extraordinary longitudinal population databases built on the country’s excellent parish registers dating back to the 18th century. While the Swedish censuses have rarely been used as sources of data for historical analysis, this work demonstrates that the 1930 census has great potential to support new research.     

Women in a changing economy: the misleading tale of participation rates in a historical perspective

In this article I focus on women's advancement in the Swedish labour market during more than a century. By applying a long-term perspective I give the historical background to what is commonly seen as a success story. By reassessing census and labour force survey data I show that participation rates may tell a misleading tale not only for the past but also for the present. In a long-term perspective, Sweden does not stand out as a country with high female labour force participation rates. It was not until the mid-1960s that market work came to play a larger part of women's life, since young women worked until they had children and older married women returned to the labour force after having raised a family. During the late 1960s and the 1970s, women with children under the age of seven became an integrated part of the labour force. It seemed as if welfare reforms supported women's market work in an unprecedented way; gender differences in labour force participation decreased and became very small. A reassessment of labour force participation rates together with alternative measures of market work such as at-work and market-hours rates show that similarly to how they underestimate women's market work and contributions to production during the early decades of the twentieth century, they overestimate women's market work at the end of the century, neglecting the extent to which reproductive responsibilities still interfere with women's paid work through absence and part-time work.     

Pressured to learn? Swedish police experiences of curbing organized crime

This research takes an interest in the police's capacity to learn and adapt in an ongoing policy failure. Using the literature on organizational learning and adaptation, it investigates how the police combine exploration of new possibilities and exploitation of old certainties. This article delves into the Swedish police's adaptation to a wave of organized and aggravated robberies that in the years around 2005 seemed out of control. It argues that the Swedish police need to create organizational ambidexterity by implementing a mix of exploitation and exploration, as well as engaging societal actors external to the police when old practices run dry. This means that the law and order sector needs to refine their competences, utilize new ideas, and promote innovation from companies and other authorities for dealing with the tasks at hand. Furthermore, the organizational theory tool-box has proven that it has great potential for diagnosing current learning and adaptation efforts within the law and order sector, as they happen.     

Offending,drug abuse and life chances—a longitudinal study of a Stockholm birth cohort

There are many factors, both empirical and theoretical, which indicate that drug abuse can play an important role in explaining the links between criminality and life chances when viewed from a life-course perspective. In this article, we examine the links between crime and drug abuse and social inclusion and exclusion in adult life, and look at whether there are gender-specific patterns in these regards. The Stockholm Birth Cohort database allows us to follow a birth cohort born in 1953 to age 56. The results show that drug abuse is central both to processes of continuity in and desistance from crime and to life chances in adulthood. For the adult outcomes that relate to work and health, we also note a tendency towards polarization; the size of both the relative and the absolute differences between the comparison group and offenders with registered drug abuse increases over time. The same general pattern can be seen for males and females.     

Crime prevention cooperation in Sweden: a regional case study

In crime prevention, local cooperation and networks have recently become central organizing principles and concepts, especially in Nordic countries such as Sweden. This article explores cooperation in Swedish crime prevention by examining a local example, the regional network Regbrå. Regbrå aims to increase knowledge about crime prevention through cooperation and to support local crime prevention efforts by the municipalities in Östergötland County. Regbrå has promoted many universal (primary), selective (secondary), and indicated (tertiary) crime prevention mechanisms. The Regbrå case also merits attention because of its strong links with a local university and higher education. Some shortcomings and problems also emerge in the analysis, such as the possibility that cooperation becomes an end to itself, detached from verified crime reduction effects. The analysis draws on a study of the Regbrå network, including interviews with qualitative experts (N = 10) and a survey sent to involved municipalities (N = 13).     

Women,family, and small business in late nineteenth century Sweden

In Sweden, unmarried women and widows had a long historical tradition of involvement in the retail trades and in handicrafts. They supervised enterprises between the death of their husbands and another male heir, and poor women had the right to become hawkers or innkeepers. During the second half of the nineteenth century, the number of unmarried women increased, and the authorities wanted to open new trades in which women could earn their own living and not become an economic burden on local government. Given these new possibilities, women developed several different strategies, which can be seen in the three Swedish towns of Sundsvall, Härnösand, and Umeå when their business history of the later part of the nineteenth century is examined. Women's business involvements exhibit the older patterns of family survival, but now add motives having to do with status maintenance and emancipation.