A reversed order

expansion and differentiation of social sciences and humanities in Sweden 1945–2015

Tobias Dalberg

Mikael Börjesson

Donald Broady

pp. 247-287

in: Christian Fleck, Matthias Duller, Victor Karády (eds), Shaping human science disciplines, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019

Abstract

Swedish social sciences and humanities have expanded dramatically since 1945. The augmentation has been especially strong in the 1950s, the 1960s and the 1990s, coinciding with transitions from elite to mass to universal higher education. However, the expansion has been very uneven. The social sciences have surpassed the humanities in a number of aspects such as student enrolment, research financing and demand for their expert knowledge. Thus, a long-established order has been reversed. Our main conclusion is that the differentiated path the disciplines take is explained largely by their altered position in the field of higher education and changing demands from the labor market as well as the strengthened link between the expansion of the welfare state and the social sciences.