Faculty of Social Sciences University 1964 – 2014

Eds. Dahl and Danielson 9

History of the Faculty of ­Social Sciences Mats Danielson

The year is 1576. There are still 388 years higher institute of education in a 16th century before the Faculty of Social Sciences at Stock- sense. holm University will be formally constituted, The men – they were all men in these ancient but academic research and education relevant times – would carry out tasks in society that to and applicable to society are being planned are today to some extent done by professionals for and prepared this year in Stockholm. The trained by the Faculty of Social Sciences. Thus, scene is Gråmunkeholmen (today Riddarhol- the college is the earliest precursor to the Faculty men) in central Stockholm, a small island next of today, making the university history of to Stadsholmen. The main island, Stadshol- Stockholm go back all the way to the 16th cen- men, containing the Royal Palace, is what we tury. A few years prior, around 1570, it bothe­ nowadays call the Old Town. The devastating red the king that there was no active university fire of 1625 has yet to arrive, wiping out ­almost in . was mostly half of Stadsholmen’s­ buildings. At the nearby closed during the reformation­ and there were Gråmunkeholmen,­ connected to Stadsholmen no other universities in Sweden at that time. by the convenient Munkbron bridge, King The king wanted Sweden to have a higher edu- ­Johan III has requested that a higher educa- cational institution, and further he wanted to tional institute, a college, should be established. place it in Stockholm, the de facto capital at There are societal needs to be catered to in the that time. Planning begun for a higher academ- form of a shortage of priests, vicars and other ic institute and the search for suitable premises scholarly educated men. Parts of the societal came up with Gråmunkeholmen, named ­after structure are upheld by these occupations, and the old monastery Gråbrödraklostret which the establishment-to-be can be viewed as a had been established around 1270. The monas- 10 History of the Faculty of Social Sciences

Collegium turned much less Catholic. Especially from 1583, when Protestant teachers were ­employed in subjects such as Greek and physics, Collegium regium turned more into a general academic institution of the same kind as con- temporary universities. The Collegium was in

From Nordisk Familjebok, ed. 1906.

tery had been closed in 1527 by King Gustav Vasa during the reformation and was now available and identified as suitable for educa- tional purposes. This was not met by enthu­ siasm, neither by the archbishop nor by propo- nents of the mostly dormant Uppsala University, but in August 1576, after some years of plan- ning, the college, Collegium regium (‘King’s Col- lege’ a.k.a. Academia Stock­holmiensis), was opened in the old monastery at Gråmunkeholmen with Laurentius Norvegus as rector. The teach- ing was initially targeted mostly at educating priests and vicars and the teachers were Jesuits, giving the teaching a Catholic direction. Sub- jects taught included theology, Latin, philoso- phy, mathematics and medicine. After an upris- ing, the rector was replaced in 1580 and the From Nordisk Familjebok, ed. 1885. Faculty of Social Sciences – Stockholm University 11

effect the first “Stockholm University College”, the reestablishment of Uppsala University, not by name but in ope­rations and character. there was now no longer an immediate need for a college of the same kind in Stockholm.

The Collegium was in effect th th the first “Stockholm University The 17 and 18 centuries In the decades following, Sweden began to ex- College”, not by name but in pand its territory in Northern Europe. The Era operations and character. of the (stormaktstiden) is con- sidered to consist of the time period between The Collegium flourished for a while, but 1611 and 1719. One way to consolidate­ the opposing powers made inroads to seal a different empire during that time was to open universi- fate. The opposition focused on the premises, ties in different parts of the empire, and a num- which according to them had to be allocated ber of universities were founded in short suc- for other, more pressing, needs. In 1589, some cession. Thus, in 1632, Sweden’s second national of the Collegium’s premises were already in use university was opened in Dorpat by Gustav II by the Royal Mint Authority (Kungl. Mynt­ Adolf.1 It was called Aca­demia Gustaviana un- verket) and more were soon to be allocated to til 1665 and later Academia Gustavo-Carolina. the military for use as hospitals. This put some In 1640, Sweden’s third national university was doubt on the future of the Collegium and the founded in , . It was named Kungl. teachers felt that their positions were less than Akademien i Åbo (the Royal Academy of Turku) secure. At Johan III’s death in 1592, the Colle- and contained four faculties. All students had to gium was deteriora­ting, and in the following start with undergraduate studies at the Faculty year it was in principle closed as there was no of Philosophy and could then continue with teaching, even if it formally remained in exis- studies in one of the facul­ties of Medicine, Law, tence for a short while afterwards. or Theology, in a system akin to the ‘graduate The succeeding king, Sigismund, and later schools’ we can find today in some university on Karl IX and Gustav II Adolf, all decided to systems. The university was moved to support Uppsala University instead, where in 1828.2 Another university, that of Greifswald, teaching in principle had ceased as early as became Swedish in 1648 due to efforts of war 1530 due to the reformation. It was reopened in 1595 and the teachers at Collegium regium were 1 Now called Tartu University in Tartu, , having 18,000 students. in 1593 transferred to Uppsala or laid off. With 2 Now called Helsinki University, having 38,000 students. 12 History of the Faculty of Social Sciences

(Svenska Pommern). Greifswald, however, was Stockholm. A main reason cited was that a never really considered­ one of the national uni- university ought to interact with society by versities, as it was not founded by the Swedish being geographically close to a large city. The government. Rather, was to be- closed-wall university was seen as a medieval­ come the fourth national­ university. The peace reminiscence. Not least jurisdiction3 by the treaties of Roskilde in 1658 and Copenhagen­ university over the students ought to be in 1660 brought Sweden its now southern ­abolished. A committee was formed to investi­ parts permanently. To manifest this, a universi- gate the matter. In 1825, the committee ty was constituted in Lund in 1666, and by that reached the conclusion that a relocation was event, the need for Swedish universities was not to be recommended mainly because of saturated for the time being. As events unfold- costs, both for relocation of the university and ed, the Swedish Empire did not substantially for students, Stockholm ­being more ­expensive expand any further­ but rather declined, thus ef- for students to live in. It was also noted that fectively putting to an end for centuries the idea the university could be too close to the gov- of a university in Stockholm. ernment to ensure academic freedom, and fi- In Stockholm, meanwhile, more specific nally that the capital had many more big city academies were formed. In 1735, the Royal distractions for students than Upp­sala. Thus, Academy of Fine Arts (Kungl. Akademien för Stockholm was once again left without a high- de fria konsterna) was established, followed in er academic institution. However,­ the need for 1739 by the Royal Swedish Academy of Science higher education in many sectors of society, (Kungl. Vetenskapsakademien). Some decades not least in the capital, continued to increase. later, in 1792, Karlberg Military College (Mili­ As a consequence, more specialised academies tärhögskolan Karlberg) was also founded. Poli­ were founded in Stockholm. Among them the ticians and parliamentarians in Stockholm con- Central Athletic Institute (Gymnastiska cen- tinually discussed the need for the capital to tralinstitutet, now Gymnastik- och idrotts­ have a higher academic institution, not least högskolan) in 1813, Kungl. Karolinska within what we now know as the social sciences. medico-chirur­giska institutet (now Karolins- ka Institutet) in 1816, the Technological Insti- The 19th century tute (Tek­no­logiska institutet, now Kungl. In 1822, leading politicians once again pro- Tekniska högskolan, KTH) in 1827, the For- posed the establishment of such an institution, 3 Jurisdiction meant the right to prosecute and sentence crimi- this time by relocating Uppsala University to nal acts. Faculty of Social Sciences – Stockholm University 13

estry Institute (Skogs­institutet, later Skogs- sioned a scientific academy without faculties högskolan4) in 1828, and the Pharmaceutical or degrees, with the aim of professing pure Institute (Farmaceutiska institutet5) in 1837. science. His petitions did not result in any ac- None of these had, how­ever, a particularly so- tions but planted some seeds for the decades cial science-­based orientation. to come. In the new governmental university statu­ In 1861, Kungl. Karolinska medico-chirur- tes, ratified in 1852, the jurisdiction of the giska institutet was granted permission to universities was indeed abolished. This was award medical­ licentiate degrees, the first not only a reform on paper. In the years imme- graduate degree in a Stockholm institution. diately prior to the new statutes, universities The first result of Anckarswärd’s and others’ had sometimes sentenced students to severe efforts was that Riksdagen in 1862 granted a punishment, even execution. The governing yearly appropriation for open scientific lec- structures of Uppsala University and Lund tures in Stockholm. The lectures commenced University were made more isomorph by the in 1863 with the initial subjects being the gen- new statutes, making them an implicit norm eral and politic history of culture, general law, for how universities should be organised in constitutional law, poli­tical science, statistics, Sweden. Furthermore, in 1859, both universi- bio­logy, physics and mineralogy, a set of sub- ties appointed the same person as chancellor, jects we would today consider a mix of all Gustaf Sparre. Earlier chancellors had mostly four current faculties of the University. Two been royalties and nobilities, and while Sparre, years later, the Stockholm City Council grant- too, was a count, his appointment still signi- ed a yearly appropriation of SEK 30,000 for fied a new role for the chancellor. The coming the creation of a higher academic educational chancellors were rather academics or politi- institution. This was paralleled by a fundrais- cians, among them two prime ministers to be. ing campaign directed at the general public. During the 1850s, Count Anckarswärd had The campaign only raised SEK 45,000 in four several times petitioned in the Parliament years, however, with the main counterargu- (Riksdagen) that a higher academic institution ment from the public being that there were should be established in Stockholm, but of a already a set of academies in the capital such different kind from the universities. He envi- as the Swedish Academy, the ­Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish 4 Merged with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Academy of Letters, and more. What should (Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet) in 1977. 5 Moved to Uppsala in 1968 to merge with Uppsala University. we need this new academy for? 14 History of the Faculty of Social Sciences

Stockholm University College to lead to “simple homework”, something that In 1869, the University College Association of was seen as indicative of lower school forms. Stockholm (Högskoleföreningen i Stockholm­ ) The same debate has been seen many times was founded. It was an association with the since, to this day. aim to establish a university college in Stock- The plans for an academic institution in holm. It remains in existence even today, albeit Stockholm grew firmer during the first part of with a modified aim. Funding was raised from the 1870s. Of the classic four faculties, philo­ the City Council and again from the general sophy was the one of most interest to the Asso- public. The fundraising went on for seven ciation. Plans were made for the subjects of years, with the motto to create a higher aca- philosophy, history, languages, literature, mathe­ demic educational institution without the matics and science. Of the other faculties, law tradi­tional requirements to take a predefined was seen as too applied, medicine as already in set of subjects or courses; rather it was to have existence (at KI), and theology as of little inter- a free choice on which subjects to explore. est. Engineering was not seen as a possible faculty The year after, 1870, the government issued a at the time. ­Regardless, Teknologiska­ institutet new degree charter (examensordning), stating expanded and changed its name to Kungl. that there were three degree levels – bachelor Tekniska högskolan in 1877. They took steps (fil.kand.), licentiate, and doctorate (doktors- toward a more scientifically-based­ education by grad) levels. The bachelor’s degree needed to starting up research laboratories and introduc- consist only of five subjects (previously­ six, and ing mandatory thesis work. All graduates were prior to 1853 all subjects of the faculty). The called civilingenjörer (not translated as civil en- five subjects required for a bachelor (candidate) gineers, but rather as non-military engineers) as of philosophy degree were theoretical philo­ opposed to military engineers, further emphasis- sophy, Latin, history, Nordic languages, and ing the fulfilment of societal needs by engineers finally a choicebetween ­ mathematics or science. and their importance to society. Also in 1870, the curricula at the universi- In the autumn of 1878, Stockholm Univer- ties were given a more structured form by the sity College could finally open its doors for government. Contents and goals had to be the first time. A total of 480 students atten­ded ­explicitly written down. This met with opposi- lectures in mathematics, physics, chemistry tion from university teachers and created some and geology during the first semester. In the debate. The focus was thought to shift towards following ­semester, botany and zoology were examination, away from knowledge.­ It was felt added as subjects. Note the change of subjects Faculty of Social Sciences – Stockholm University 15

from the initial lectures a decade and a half College in particular, the romantic ideal of earlier funded by the parliament, which in- pure knowledge was being challenged by a cluded history of culture, law, political sci- more practical view of the need to educate civ- ence, and statistics. ­Social science subjects il servants and lower tier school teachers. The were now conspicuous by their absence. Even College Board, and its chairman the over-gov- though student attendance could be viewed as a ernor (över­ståt­hållaren), were more focused partial success, the numbers did not improve in on the practical and educational side of the the following years and the financial situation College. They wanted to educate the youth, to soon became strained. To counter the situa- apply for the right to award degrees, and to tion, admission fees were introduced already employ teachers in the same way as ordinary in 1881, dropping the number of enrol­ ­ments employees, not through peer-reviewed applica- from 500 to 100, an 80 % reduction very sim- tion procedures. The Teachers’­ Council (lärar- ilar in number to what we have recently expe- rådet), on the other hand, wanted to empha- rienced with non-European student fees. sise ­research and debate, not education. They Professors at the College were directly ap- wanted a peer-reviewed employment process pointed to chairs, not recruited by rating app­ (akin to today’s­ procedures) and academic lications. Positions were not advertised and freedom. They asked for the College to be de- there was no competition for a chair. The clared a centre for higher cultural studies, not hand-picked elite were offered more time for re- a degree-­awarding institution. Needless to say, search compared to the traditional universities. this led to clashes in the organisational struc- Among the first professors hired, some could ture of the College. be mentioned: Svante Arr­henius, physics, Hans The Stockholm City Council had a number von Euler-Chelpin, chemistry, Gösta Mittag-­ of seats on the College Board. In 1888, they Leffler and Sonja Kovalevsky, mathematics, proposed the establishment of a law pro- and Viktor Rydberg, cultural history. None of gramme. This would be more in line with the these professorships were, however, directly ambitions the City had with its engagement in ­related to the social sciences. the College, and it could also help counter the In 1883, the turnover of the College was very negative trend in the number of enrol- SEK 125,000 divided into 27,000 in tuition ments. The Teachers’ Council, however, were fees, 40,000 from the City Council and 58,000 reluctant. To emphasise its point, the City from return on investment funds. In Swedish Council withdrew its financial support of SEK universities in general at the time, and in the 40,000 and promised instead a conditional 16 History of the Faculty of Social Sciences

support of 30,000 – on the condition that a law and doctor, thereby keeping the College’s profile programme was ­established. In the event that as a free research institution. The Board, how- such a programme was still not established, ever, turned down the compromise and applied there was a proposal of creating an external for all three levels regardless, which were sub- faculty of law, not connected to the College. In sequently granted by the government. This in- the same year, lectures in economics started creased the enrolment figures from an all-time with Johan Leffler as lecturer, offering a broader low of 47 in 1903 to 106 in 1904, still a far cry set of subjects to the students. from the 500 of the first years.Despite ­ the all- In 1893, the Swedish Higher Education time low in 1903, course offerings­ were broad- Chancellor (universitetskanslersämbetet) was ened as teaching in statistics commenced that established. The chancellor primarily governed year by Gustav Sundbärg who was appointed the universities of Uppsala and Lund, plus Karo­ docent. The College did now have a full range linska Institutet. Docent Gustaf Gilljam from of degrees at its disposal. It was only, as a com- Uppsala University became the first chancellor parison, in 1927 that KTH started awarding (universitetskansler). But the Swedish Higher PhD degrees,­ having hitherto had a much greater Education Authority (ämbetsverket, what we emphasis on undergraduate education. colloquially refer to as UKÄ) was, however, not Finally, in 1907, the College Board decided to established until 1964 at which time the chancel- launch a law programme. The number of stu- lor also became the head of the Authority. dents immediately rose to 300, dramatically increasing the revenues but at the same time The 20th century twisting the demarcation line between market A decade later, in 1904, the first professor of forces and the ideal of pure knowledge.­ In the economics was appointed, Gustav Cassel. This same year, the government made changes to the was also the first professor in a subject that degree charter (examens­ordning) in which would 60 years later be included in the Faculty medicine,­ law and theology became bound of Social Sciences. In the same year, the College studies with a preselected set of courses with Board wanted to apply to the government to be pre-determined content. Only degrees in philo­ granted the rights to confer degrees of all the sophy kept some freedom in the subjects and (then) three levels: bache­lor, licentiate, and courses included. Yet even one of them, the doctor. The Teachers’ Council opposed the more vocational of the philosophy degrees (fil. ­application for any degree, and the compro- ämbets-examen) was to a certain extent pre-­ mise proposed was to apply only for licentiate determined. This was met with unhappy voices Faculty of Social Sciences – Stockholm University 17

at the College, as it was seen as counterproduc- 1938 with the City of Stockholm allowing the tive to the profile and direction of the College. head of its statistical office, Sten Wahlund, to Meanwhile, the philosophical studies at the serve as a part-time professor in statistics. College flourished. Six professors of law were The slow growth of the College was still a hired already in 1908, and between 1908 and problem. The total of 500 students in 1910 had 1918 four professors were hired in literature, risen to 1,200 by 1930, but this was still a art, history, and religion. Three of the latter small number, easily outnumbered by one of professors wrote to the Teachers’ Council ask- today’s larger upper secondary schools (gym- ing for a humanities division to be formed. nasieskolor). Financially, it was hard to find The arguments were to better be able to con- private funding, especially for education. It duct research and to allow only free studies – was a bit easier, but far from easy, to raise meaning much more focus on pure knowledge funds for research projects and professor and much less focus on ­exams or degrees. This chairs. The difficulties had been noticed by the was granted in 1919, and can be seen as an government, and in 1939 the chancellor pro- embryo to the faculties we have today at the posed conditional government funding of 25 University. professors at the College. The conditions were In 1935, Herbert Tingsten was appointed that the government should appoint all profes- the first holder of the Lars Hierta Chair of sors and that the College should cooperate with government.­ This was the second subject having Uppsala University. The Stockholm City Coun- a professor that would later be included in the cil, having increasing trouble to finance the Faculty of Social Sciences. Shortly ­after, in College, supported the government proposal 1937, David Katz was appointed to the Olof and pushed for even more government involve- Eneroth Chair in the combined subjects of edu- ment, especially concerning education. The cation and psycho­logy. The College had already Council had noted that 35% of the students in 1934 decided to create the chair, but the pro- were not from the City, but were still partially cess took three years, making education and paid for by the City’s tax payers. The govern- psychology the third and fourth social science ment, on the other hand, was not altogether subjects to obtain a professorship. It was not happy with the position and expansion of the until 1953 that the Department­ of Education College. There were unnecessary overlaps between­ was split into units of Education and Psychology the College and Uppsala. With governmental­ with one orga­nisation containing each. The control over professor appointments, better build-up of the social sciences continued in ­resource allocation could hopefully be achieved. 18 History of the Faculty of Social Sciences

Before this was solved, however, other world vate institutions, such as the College, ­received a events interfered. proportionally much smaller amount due to During the Second World War, government the fact that the government­ had much less research funding was more clearly directed­ to- control. The traditionally largest sponsor of wards applications. In 1942, the Engineering the College, the Stockholm City Council, could Research Council (Tekniska forsk­ningsrådet, by no means match the needs of the College or TFR) was formed to allocate research resources, the loss in government allocation for being pri- of which established public universities ­received vate. It began to become clear that the financial the most. Stockholm University College, being backing of a strong partner was necessary­ in a private university, did not receive any sub- order to secure continued growth in both vol- stantial amount of the resources. This led to ume and quality. Which other partners besides strategic discussion on the College Board. the government were there to think of in 1945? In 1944, the Stockholm Convent of Vice-­ Chancellors was inaugurated. The convent, Post-war development which still exists today, consisted of the vice-­ After the war, the major multi-faculty insti- chancellors of the eight largest universities and tutions (Gothenburg, Lund, Stockholm and university colleges in Stockholm. Its purpose Uppsala) were about equal in size. They had was to handle issues of mutual interest, of 1,500-3,000 students each with Stockholm which naturally cooperation of different kinds having the largest student population. This was of high priority, not least from the College’s was still not much more than the currently perspective. Issues could be of scientific, admini­ largest upper secondary school in Sweden strative, or financial­ kinds. A primary goal was (1,850 pupils)­ and of a much smaller scale to investigate if there was mutual interest in than the universities we have today. One pro- forming some kind of union (codenamed fessor was responsible for almost all teaching Stockholm University) of all or most higher in his or her subject with lectures as the pre- edu­cation institutions in Stockholm. dominant form of teaching. In theory, the The same year, the government formed the chancellor decided on all curricula, but in rea­ Science Research Committee (Naturveten­skap­ lity the professor in a subject was in charge of liga forskningskommittén) to look at the invest­ planning the teaching. ment needs in science (natur­veten­skap) in the At this time, the vice-chancellor was the universities. The year after, in 1945, they pre- only full-time administrative manager at a uni- sented a proposal for investments where pri- versity. The deans were usually appointed on a Faculty of Social Sciences – Stockholm University 19

round-­robin basis and the role consisted mostly was not allowed to accept donations without of being chairman for a collegial faculty board written consent from the chancellor. The City or similar. The professors were the only perma- Council and the government assumed joint nently employed teachers. The docents were ­responsibility in finding areas to expand the not employed by the university. Instead they College’s premises. All of these concessions were most commonly employed­ at an upper were made by the College to gain access to secondary school (läroverk) while they did govern­mental funding since it was deemed im- some teaching at a university. There were no possible to continue without government sup- senior lecturers (lek­torer) at universities; they port. Despite the agreement, the timing was not existed only at upper secondary schools. In too good. Most of the funds from the 1945 1953, Stockholm had 48 professors while Upp­ committee still went to Uppsala and Lund. sala had 67 and Lund 54. There were also do- In 1953, the Stockholm Convent of Vice-­ cents and assistant teachers, fewer in Stock- Chancellors proposed joining the eight largest holm, bringing the teacher totals to 153 in academic institutions in Stockholm into ‘Stock- Stockholm with 282 and 261 in Uppsala and holm University’. At first, there were two alter- Lund, respectively. The number of new stu- natives put forward. The first alternative was a dents that year was 996, 690 and 534, respec- true union, joining the operations­ ­together un- tively. It is clear that the teaching load was der one administration governed by one vice-­ higher in Stockholm than in the two other major chancellor. The second alternative, which was universities despite the College’s vision. the one most strongly put forward by the Con- In 1948, the government made a renewed vent to the government,­ was of a federation in agreement with the College. It was still to ­remain which each joining party kept its organisation,­ a private university college but with a reformed budget, administration­ and vice-chancellor, board. Of the twelve members, the chairman with the Convent acting as a meta­-­­­­board in and an additional three members were appoin­ control of the combined resources. The Con- ted by the government. Four came from the vent’s proposal, however, fared badly with the City Council and one from the Royal Academy boards of some of the supposedly joining uni- of Sciences. Only three, the vice-chancellor and versities, exposing the weaknesses of the pro- two members of the Teachers’ Council, were posal and indicating that the time was not ripe from the College itself. This meant markedly for such an endeavour. The chancellor, some- decreased power for the College and for its what satisfied with the attempt even though it Teachers’ Council. Furthermore, the College failed, recommended the govern­ment to give 20 History of the Faculty of Social Sciences

the College some of the 1945 investment fund- students commenced. While it was a whisper ing in any case, but the government­ turned the compared to the explosion that was to come chancellor down and the ­investment plans during the 1960s, it still put some strain on the were put on hold. The same year, Torsten universities. From 2,600 students at Stockholm Husén was appointed professor of education at in 1950, the number rose to 3,900 in 1955 and the College. The Olof Eneroth­ Chair was then 7,600 in 1960. Similar trends were seen at other changed into a chair in psychology only, with universities in the country. In recognising the Gösta Ekman as incumbent. Like all other so- trend, the government launched the 1955 Uni- cial science professors at the time, these chairs versity Committee with the aim of proactively­ belonged to the Faculty of Humanities. investigating the long-term consequences of an In 1954, the Teachers’ Council gave up the expanding academic sector. The committee plans of a ‘Stockholm University’ federation, coined the term ‘research education’­ (forskarut- but could the same year watch such a construc- bildning). Investigating how such education tion (in fact a union) succeed in Gothen­burg, in was conducted, it found low efficiency through- the creation of the University of ­Gothenburg. out the nation with a median student age of The same year, the parliament finally decided 34-37 years at the completion of PhD studies. to grant the College funding for the 1945 Furthermore, they proposed scholarships for invest­ments in science equipment despite the PhD students and a five semester­ structured edu­ Convent being unsuccessful­ in its work to join cation for licentiate degrees. For the time between­ Stockholm’s higher academic institutions into licentiate­ and PhD, a position as research ­assistant­ some kind of umbrella­ organisation. This un- (forskar­assistent) was proposed. This was the dermined the efforts at the College to create a first step towards a formal PhD education rath- federation since one of the primary motives er than an apprenticeship. was now gone. The social sciences were further In 1956, there were new university statutes.­ strengthened when Gunnar Boalt became the Concerning central administration, they were first incumbent of the chair in sociology in quite similar to the older ones in prescribing a 1954. At the College, sociology had deve­loped vice-chancellor as the head of administration,­ within philosophy and five years earlier, in an academic convent (aka­demiska församlingen) 1949, sociology was taught for the first time and two governing boards (stora och lilla kon- within the Department of Philosophy. sistoriet), the former for major decisions similar At around the same time, in the mid-1950s, to a university board today and the latter for a process of expansion regarding the number of more daily matters. A set of other concepts we Faculty of Social Sciences – Stockholm University 21

are familiar­ with today were introduced in the government did not. The government in essence­ new statutes. Departments (institutioner) are had only two locations to offer, both requiring men­tioned for the first time as a unit of admini­ a total relocation of the College: Ursvik in stration. Electors appointed by the universities Sundbyberg (military grounds) or Frescati (an and university colleges were to elect the chan- experimental field for agriculture). A quick cellor, and the chancellor was seen as a bridge glance at the map rendered Ursvik almost im- between academia and government, in effect possible, yielding Frescati as the only viable op- being academia’s spokesperson to the govern- tion. And Frescati it became, eventually taking ment. The Faculty of Philosophy was at the until ­August 1970 before the first departments ­national central administration, the Chancel- moved to the new (and current) locations.6 lor’s office, divided into the Faculties­ of Humani­ In 1958, the 1955 University Committee ties and Mathematics and Science,­ a division proposed a new kind of teaching format at uni- that was made already in 1919 in Stockholm. versities called lessons (lektionsundervis­ning). The student unions were given the right to col- These were lectures in a smaller format, with lect mandatory member­ship fees. possibly more potential for questions and inter­ In the same year, 1956, David Hannerberg, action. To match this new lecture format, a then professor in Lund, was summoned by the new teaching position was proposed – senior College Board to take up the position as pro- lecturer (universitetslektor). It was purely a fessor in Human Geography in Stockholm. The teaching position (unlike today) but differed Stockholm City Council demanded to have more from the position of lecturer (lektor­ ) which was representatives on the College Board and influ- found in upper secondary schools (läroverk), ence over the employment of professors. The not universities. A requirement­ for being hired College, in need of premises for expansion, as a universitetslektor was a completed PhD, were prepared to agree to the terms if premises thereby creating a ­career path for PhDs in or real estate for expansion was provided. The many disciplines. Even more revolutionary was condition was not accepted by the City Council the suggestion that the universities should be and the government instead had to assume re- financially compensated according to volume, sponsibility for the College’s expansion. The i.e. to how many students they enrolled and College’s office space situation was dire. Much 6 The very first to move were some social science departments: of its premises were located around Odenplan Business Administration, Economic History, Economics, and other parts of East Vasastan where the City Political Science and Social Anthropology plus the Institute for International Economic Studies. Three of them are still held premises suitable for expansion while the located in Building A of Södra huset. 22 History of the Faculty of Social Sciences

­examined. This opened up a floodgate. The chancellor. The chancellor was now appointed ­expansion was now only constrained by the by the government rather than by electors from availability of premises and PhDs willing to the universities and also became the govern- teach, and, of course, by the attractiveness of ment’s spokesperson to the universities, instead the courses offered. of vice versa. From 1964, there was only one board (konsistorium) at each university instead Stockholm University of two. The term vice-chancellor’s office (rek- Meanwhile, since the breakdown of the at- torsämbetet) was introduced, implying a divi- tempts to bring the higher academic institu- sion of administrative labour between the tions in Stockholm together under a single vice-chancellor and the newly introduced uni- ­umbrella, negotiations with the government versity director (förvaltningschef). The former continued on the College’s part. It had become was still mainly responsible for all of the uni- more and more evident that the City could not versity while the latter was responsible for the be the strong partner needed, so there were few administration and finance. options available apart from seeking university Also in 1964, educational boards (utbild- status on its own. In 1960, finally, the private ningsnämnder) were mandated. They were sup- Stockholm University College became a state posed to act as the faculties’ work groups in ed- university, Stockholm University. This entailed ucational matters. Every department was from no dramatic changes except that the required 1964 required to have an appointed head number of teaching hours for a professor went (prefekt) who was responsible for the adminis- from two per week in the private College to an tration of the department. Every department exorbitant four a week at the University, caus- should also have a collegial assembly (kollegi- ing protests among the professors. As a natural um) where all the permanently employed teach- consequence of the change of ownership, the ers should be members and where the temporar- City Council lost its seats on the Board. ily employed teachers, as well as the students, A few years on, in 1964, the 1955 Universi- had the right to be present. Within the newly ty Committee was finally finished, having made formed Swedish Higher Education Authority seven different proposals during its lifetime. (UKÄ), the academic disciplines were divided The chancellor was appointed head of the new into five faculties – the Faculties of: Humanities Swedish Higher Education Authority­ (Universi- and Theology; Social Sciences and Law; Medi- tetskanslersämbetet). While this seemed like a cine, Odontology, and Pharmacy; Mathematics small change, it in effect reversed the role of the and Science; and Engineering. For the first time, Faculty of Social Sciences – Stockholm University 23

there was a split-up between the humanities and modern university. The volume of students the social sciences at the central governmental prior to 1964 was small by today’s standards, level. This reflects the volume of the previous and the universities were quite small entities humanities (philosophical)­ faculty, which had of a fairly different kind organisationally. become proportionally very large, mostly due to Therefore, I propose that the year 1964 marks a large expansion of social science teaching and the birth of the modern Swedish universities research. While this division at UKÄ was not mandatory to follow, all four big universities at Therefore, I propose that the time (Gothenburg, Lund, Stockholm and the year 1964 marks Uppsala) decided to follow suit. This entailed the birth of the faculties of social sciences in all the birth of the modern four universities in 1964 – yielding all four Swedish universities as 50-year’s jubilees in 2014. we know them today. Further in 1964, the effects of the employ- ment structure from 1958 came into full effect.­ In as we know them today. The deve­lopment this year, after only six years in existence,­ the from 1964 and onwards consists of a long senior lecturers (lektorer) already outnumbered chain of adjustments and modifications to the professors. Many applicants­ to senior lec- what are essentially the basic ideas that were tureships were already competent at the profes- put in place in 1964. How that chain unfolded sor’s level. Regardless, the division of labour is another story to be told at another time, but dictated that senior lecturers taught the first in this sense, all of the major modern Swedish two semesters of a subject and professors above universities are of equal age – all being chil- that level. dren of the same academic and educational To sum up, in 1964 many of the important revolution and all obtaining their current for- changes that shaped the universities as we mat at the same time. Moreover, since the year know them today had been made. The first 1964 also happens to be the birth-year of the wave of expansion during the preceding ten Faculties of Social Sciences at our major uni- years drove the changes. The Swedish Higher versities, it gives us dual reasons to remember Education Authority was formed this year that year. and the chancellor was given a role we still Since 1964, Stockholm University has con­ recognise today. The organisation of universi- tinued to grow, now having over 71,000 stu- ties and departments began to look like the dents in 2014. In parallel, the Faculty of Social­ 24 History of the Faculty of Social Sciences

Sciences has grown from that same year to a Stockholm University 2014. Tänka fritt och situation where it in 2014 encompasses around skapa nytt (a historic promotional text), half of all students at the University. This bears Stockholm University. proof of the social sciences not only being the UKÄ 2014. Den svenska högskolans historia. youngest but also the most dynamic and http://www.uka.se/faktaomhogskolan/­ ­expansive of the faculties. From the middle of densvenskahogskolanshistoria.html. the 20th century onwards, society has become increasingly complex, so it is no surprise to see the social sciences expand­ most rapidly in ­research as well as education during this time period. We should all be proud of our achieve- ments so far and look forward to the next 50 years.

 • 

A main source, especially for details, is (Bedoire­ & Thullberg 1978). Other main sources include (Stockholm University 2014) and (HSV 2006). Some details in the earlier historical parts are from entries in Nordisk familjebok, editions 1885 and 1906, and from Nordisk tidskrift för bok- och biblioteksväsen,­ volume I, 1914. Fur- ther, university web-pages, other authorities’ web-pages (such as UKÄ 2014), NE (the Na- tional Encyclopaedia), Wikipedia and – not least – older colleagues have been consulted.

Bedoire, Fredric and Per Thullberg 1978. Stock­ holms universitet 1878-1978, Almqvist­ & Wiksell, Uppsala. HSV 2006. Rapport 2006:3 R Högre utbild- ning och forskning 1945-2005 – en översikt. Faculty of Social Sciences – Stockholm University 25

Riddarholmen (Gråmunkeholmen) today. (Photo: Mats Danielson) Protocol from the very first meeting of the Board of the Faculty of Social Sciences.