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The Peasant Imagined The Peasant Imagined Social Imaginary and Social Order in Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century Sweden Master thesis, 60 credits, Spring 2017 Author: Jakob Håkansson Supervisor: Mikael Alm Seminar chair: Margaret Hunt Date of defence: May 23rd, 2017 HISTORISKA INSTITUTIONEN Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to illuminate how the Swedish peasantry was perceived by the Swedish Burgher, Clerical, and Noble Estates during the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. By studying the Diet protocols of each Estate from three Diets, and by applying the concept of social imaginary, it considers what a peasant was perceived to be, who was perceived to be a peasant, and how these perceptions changed. The period under investigation is a time when the orders of society began to change and the peasantry underwent a process of radicalization. It is also a time when the way people perceived themselves changed, from a perception of “the self” heavily influenced by the collective, to a more individualistic one. These circumstances made the Estates question the traditional ideal of what a peasant was, re-writing the social script of the peasantry to include new attributes, duties, and virtues than it did a century earlier. Three main categories are used and aims at exploring the peasantry’s perceived social dignity, political role, and economic function, each representing its respective order in estate society. The study has shown how the Estates perceived peasants to be simple, uneducated, and foolish in the early stages of the Age of Liberty (1718–1772), and that the social dignity of a peasant was fundamental in conceptualizing what and who a peasant was. This changed towards the end of the century and became much more diverse and complex during the early nineteenth century. By the early 1820’s, the Noble and Clerical Estates perceived them as competent, responsible, and as being capable of betterment and upward mobility in a spiritual and worldly sense. The Burgher Estate perceived them as self-righteous, rustic, and intrusive as they had begun to invade their cities, steeling their livelihood, and thus threatening their entire existence as an estate. The economic transformations of the period also proved how the economic function of the peasantry was now to a larger degree emphasized as the determinative factor of what social dignity and political role they should have. Keywords: Peasantry, peasant, social imaginary, social order, estate society, identity. i Acknowledgements It has been a privilege to have been given the opportunity to write this thesis, and there are so many I want to give a special thanks to for having aided me with advice and guidance throughout the process of writing it. I would like to start by expressing my deepest gratitude towards my supervisor Mikael Alm without whom this project would have been difficult to finish. His encouraging and inspiring words of support have in many ways changed my own attitude towards and understanding of the study of history. I also want to give a special thanks to my fellow EMS students and those who I studied with during my bachelor. You all have continuously given me cause for useful reflection and similarly guided me throughout my five years at Uppsala University. I have also had the privilege to participate in the Early Modern Cultural History node which has broadened my historical knowledge and given me valuable reflections by participating at workshops at the universities in Oldenburg and York. The time I have spent at the Vasa Museum and on the Kajutanprojektet is also entirely thanks to the node. I would therefore like to express my deepest thanks to its research leaders Mikael Alm, Johan Eriksson, and Maria Schildt, and of course to Fred and Emma Hocker who took me in and showed me the amazing collection of historical artefacts that the Vasa ship contains. Last but not least, thank you Kristina for always being there for me when I needed you the most. You have never stopped believing in me and I would not have had the courage or energy to finish this thesis if it was not for you. I have you to thank for everything. ii Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................................ iii CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1 A Society of Orders and Estates ........................................................................................................... 2 Perceiving Peasants in Context of Social, Political, and Economic Change ................................... 4 Theoretical Framework ........................................................................................................................... 7 Social Imaginary .................................................................................................................................. 7 The Ancien Régime of Identity and the Modern Regime of Selfhood ....................................... 9 Social Structural Time ....................................................................................................................... 10 Approaching the Sources ...................................................................................................................... 11 The Practice of Keeping Records ................................................................................................... 11 Selecting Protocols ............................................................................................................................ 12 Methodology and Operational Questions .......................................................................................... 13 Thesis Outline ........................................................................................................................................ 16 CHAPTER II – THE DIET OF 1720 ................................................................................................... 18 Social Dignity – Deficient Understanding and Sense of Duty ........................................................ 18 Preventing Disorder by Dressing as Peasants Should ................................................................. 18 Maintaining the Vicarage – A Contested Duty Demonstrating Peasant Dignity .................... 21 A Board of Superiors – A Matter of Affiliation ........................................................................... 23 Political Role – Exclusion from the Secret Committee ................................................................... 24 “Conform to that Which was Customary” .................................................................................... 25 Peasants Lack a Higher Comprehension ....................................................................................... 26 Political Requirements: Knowledge, Competence, and Travel Experience ............................. 27 Economic Function – The Cultivating Estate ................................................................................... 29 Division of Labour ............................................................................................................................ 29 Summary ................................................................................................................................................. 31 CHAPTER III – THE DIET OF 1786 ................................................................................................. 33 Social Dignity – Liquor as a Social Marker ........................................................................................ 33 A Custom of Drunkenness .............................................................................................................. 33 The Negligence of Virtue ................................................................................................................. 36 Peasant–Soil–Liquor ......................................................................................................................... 37 Political Role – The Fighting Estate ................................................................................................... 41 “Each One Knows Where the Shoe Pinches” .............................................................................. 41 Peasant Patriotism ............................................................................................................................. 44 Trusting the Word of a Peasant Based on Experience ................................................................ 45 Economic Function – Functionality Threatened .............................................................................. 47 A Crisis of Economic Function ...................................................................................................... 48 Idleness and Uselessness .................................................................................................................. 49 Breaking the Covenant with God ................................................................................................... 50 Summary ................................................................................................................................................
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