En fängslande vetenskap?: Kriminologi i Sverige, 1885–1965
Abstract
The purpose of this dissertation is to write a history of criminology in Sweden 1885–
1965. It is an investigation of how criminology was established as a science – as an
acknowledged field of scientific knowledge – not as a broader discursive formation. The
aim is to put criminological theories and practices in relation to political movements,
media, the state and its institutions, such as the prison, the asylum and the university,
and through that analyze Swedish criminology from the point of view of history of
science. I mobilize the theoretical concepts of “hybrid management” and “boundary
movement” to investigate how the borders between science and politics were negotiated
and upheld. The study is divided into three parts which relate to each other both
chronological and thematically.
I argue that criminological theories and practices were established by being connected
to different actors, different modes of thinking and different types of political aims. By
analyzing criminology as a public science as well as tool for political administration
and reform and as an academic discipline, I investigate not only the criminological text
and ideas but also the infrastructure and political and cultural context of the science of
crime. For this purpose I utilize diverse source material, including, but not limited to,
popular scientific texts, state committee reports, the daily press and documents from a
range of archives. I argue that criminology as a historical phenomenon is best understood
as a social science which tries to mobilize a scientific way of thinking, talking
and acting with the purpose of changing society in one way or another. Rather than
focusing on which different criminological perspectives dominated at different times I
focus on continuity and investigate criminology in Sweden as a project in which criminologists
and their allies tried to achieve their goals of 1) production of knowledge, 2)
securing the conditions for production of knowledge and 3) implementation of that
knowledge in social and penal political reform.
The dissertation shows that the political dimension of criminology should be described
as shifting and multifaceted. Criminology did not represent repression or emancipation.
Rather, as a science of the welfare state it was mobilized for both purposes and it
needs to be understood in a complex process of conflicting interests. I conclude that
a fundamental aspect of the establishing of criminology as a science in Sweden 1885–
1965 was its proponents’ ability to balance between scientific and political interests
in their endeavor to produce criminological knowledge and promote a criminological
rationality.
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
University
Göteborgs universitet. Humanistiska fakulteten
University of Gothenburg. Faculty of Arts
Institution
Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion ; Institutionen för litteratur, idéhistoria och religion
Disputation
Fredagen den 24 November 2017, kl. 10.15, sal T302, Gamla Hovrätten, Olof Wijksgatan 6
Date of defence
2017-11-24
Date
2017-11-02Author
Pedersson, Anders
Keywords
crime
criminals
criminology
hybrid management
history
history of social science
psychiatry
sociology
the social question
Sweden in the 20th century
welfare state
Publication type
Doctoral thesis
ISBN
978-91-88348-86-9
Series/Report no.
Avhandlingar framlagda vid Institutionen för litteratur, idéhistoria och religion, Göteborgs universitet
51
Language
swe