Dispersion of engineers in a transitional society; Teknologins nytta

Abstract

The increasing interest shown in recent years by economic historians in the role of technology and technicians in industrial development has produced surprisingly few attempts to analyse technical phenomena within their social context, i.e. utilising the theories and methods of social science. These attempts include a group of Swedish projects under the heading ‘Technicians and Scientists in Swedish Industrialisation’ located at the History Institute ofUppsala University and financially supported by The Bank. of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation. Rolf Torstendahl publishes in Dispersion of Engineers in a Transitional Society the results of those parts of the studies particularly concerned with the social mobility of Swedish engineers during the period before and especially during industrialisation. His other project report, Teknologins nytta, deals mainly with aspects of the political background to the growth of technicians' training during the decades before the industrial breakthrough. The publication of other reports by participants in the studies may be expected soon.