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SOCIAL CLASSES AND DISTINCTIONS.
15o
The’position of politics in Sweden since 1866, when the method of
representation was altered, has been quite unique. The class of peaseut
proprietors has had a preponderating share of political power. The most
special feature is that the peasantry in Sweden have exercised this power
themselves and have not been represented by men chosen from other classes
of the community. The number of peasants who have seats in the Swedish
Riksdag is upwards of 100 — a state of things that has no parallel, save
in Norway and Denmark; and even in those countries, not to so large an
extent. The predominant position which the peasantry assumed in the
Riksdag after 1866, has, however, suffered considerably, by reason of the latest
representation reform of 1909. Manual labourers, the part of the
population without property, which heretofore had acquired only insignificant
representation in the Second Chamber, have, by the general franchise and
the proportional method of election, obtained complete representation there,
and at the same time not an insignificant number of seats in the First
Chamber. As the communal franchise has at the same time been much
levelled, the Swedish community has been largely democratized politically.
This naturally causes a powerful reaction on social conditions and on the
levelling process, without, however, entailing the abolition of
class-differences here, any more than in other civilized countries.
Strained relations between the different social classes in Sweden have,
however, always been modified by that humanity which, as has been
frequently pointed out, is a characteristic trait of the Swedes. Hence it is
that all the dissensions and infringements of others’ rights that occur in
the course of historical life have not been so violent in Sweden as
elsewhere. Yet another circumstance, contributing in its measure to this
state of things, is that to rise in the social scale is perhaps nowhere so easy
or frequent as in Sweden, which fact may be attributed principally to
higher education being practically gratuitous and freely open to all.
Also, of the pupils at secondary schools, no less than 20 to 25 % are
the sons of peasant farmers or artisans, and about one-half of the total
number belong, in general, to the so-called lower classes of the
community. A great number of the finest men in Sweden can thus trace their
origin back to the lower classes of the population, directly or with but
one or two intervening generations; the "upper" and "lower" classes are
consequently strongly united by the very closest of ties, namely that of
blood. The signifiance of this will be apparent, if the reader reflects on
the striking contrast in many other countries, where the difference between
the higher and the lower classes is far greater.
But this has not prevented class distinctions, in Sweden as elsewhere,
from being artificially accentuated of låte by the so-called labour
movement. The quite natural endeavour of manual labourers to improve their
condition, not only from a political, but above all from an economic and
social point of view, has led, under the influence of socialistic theories and
Irades unionism imported from abroad, to a widening of the gulf between
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