Twentieth Century Swedish Intellectual History

About the course

This course covers Swedish intellectual history, from the early twentieth century and onwards, with a special focus on the role of science and technology in the shaping of Swedish nationhood, political culture, and public image. Students will gain insight into the role of expert knowledge in Swedish political culture, and the tension between democratic and technocratic tendencies in large scale public health projects, as well as in controversies over the regulation of and policies for energy, biomedicine, and the environment. Students are also introduced to the literature on national image making, epitomized in the Nobel prize, and will engage in theoretically informed discussions on the mutual shaping of science, technology, and society.