In this comparative case-study, elements of diffusion theory are used to examine local conditions conducive to political organization in terms of independent local lists (ILLs). Empirical evidence supports the formulation of three hypotheses for future and more systematic research into the problem: a hypothesis of size, an elite-hypothesis and a mobilization-hypothesis. Although several factors are likely to play a role, the results suggest particularly that ILLs are less likely to occur in localities lacking historical legacies in terms of popular mobilization.
The 1830s has been singled out as the decade in which the Swedish consumer market really started to expand. In the same period, cotton textile production expanded in the Gothenburg area. A small group of immigrant Jewish families played an important role in this development. The impact of Jewish merchants on the growth of the consumer goods market is consistent with international research. Their entrepreneurial activities and renewal of textile production and trade have been emphasized. This has, however, not been paid much attention to in the Swedish research. This article discusses what impact the Jewish immigrants had on the increase of the textile market in Gothenburg and its surroundings. Through a couple of case studies and examples, we want to elucidate the significance of Jewish textile production and trade: Jewish calico printers started up mass production of fashionable fabrics in the 1820s. Furthermore, Jewish merchants spread their goods to customers in the countryside in cooperation with Swedish pedlars. The authors also discuss different reasons why the Jews played such a significant role during this particular period: The role of the legislation, the Jewish textile tradition, access to capital, networks, effective distribution, a growing consumer demand, and the geographical context.
On the basis of an extensive survey of primary and secondary sources from 19th-century central Sweden this article looks into the most neglected area of alcohol history, namely the role that alcohol played within the middle and upper classes. More specifically, it aims to analyze the relationship between drinking habits and respectability', as described by scholars such as George Mosse. The author identifies an aristocratic drinking culture with roots in the 18th century, in which respectability was not the governing structure of gendered behaviour. Among men belonging to the middle strata of society a different drinking culture existed, where the primary aim was to create a sense of brotherhood between men. The increasing insistence on respectability during the course of the period slowly eroded the old aristocratic drinking pattern, but also challenged the heavy drinking in middle-class male circles. The study thus adds detail and complexity to concepts such as 'respectability' and 'separate spheres'.
Only rarely have the non-secular roots of modern political individualism been subject to study. In this article I forward the hypothesis that modern political individualism, as expressed by 19th-century liberalism, was a result of individualistic, low Church and nonconformist revivals to the same extent that it was a product of secular rationalism. The hypothesis is probed in a comparative case study of rural liberalism in two north European regions, Schleswig-Holstein (Germany) and Värmland (Sweden). I address three key requirements of the hypothesis: that the nonconformist revival movements in 18th and 19th-century northern Europe promoted an individualistic outlook among their followers; that individuality rooted in religious awakenings was congenial to liberal ideology; and that traits of non-secular individualism were incorporated with everyday liberal political discourse and practice.