The purpose of this essay has been to, with a gender perspective, study the way through which the Swedish sobriety committees handled cases of women abusing alcohol during the 1930s. Due to alcohol abuse being historically perceived as a male concern the study aims to enlighten the fact that women, even though it was highly unusual, also abused alcohol and that their abuse was perceived differently due to diverse normative gender perceptions. Previous research has shown that Swedish social policy regarding alcohol abuse at the time, due to these normative perceptions of gender, were aimed specifically at working class men and to a large degree viewed women as a non-abusive party. By analysing data from the protocols of the sobriety committees’ archives in two Swedish cities I have compiled a list of seven individual cases of varying extent that have been matters for the sobriety committees in Borås and Kalmar. The study has been able to outline how normative perceptions of gender are applied in the source material and that the individual women in many of the occurring cases have been judged in accordance with these perceptions. This in turn has meant that alcohol abusing women have been deemed more deviating from their respective gender norms than their male counterparts.

Syftet med denna undersökning var att få en inblick på hur vilka åtgärder Västra Frölundas nykterhetsnämnd tog för att motarbeta alkoholism, hur dess verksamhet bedrevs samt hur alkoholismens utveckling inom Västra Frölundas kom såg ut mellan 1928–1944. Arbetet skulle genomföras med hjälp av en kvalitativ studie som redogjorde de åtgärder nämnden gjorde och hur verksamheten fungerade, och en kvantitativ studie gjordes för att ge en bild på hur alkoholismens utveckling i Västra Frölunda mellan 1928–1944 såg ut. Materialet var i huvudsak bestående av nämndens protokollshandlingar. Vad undersökningen visade var att nämnden vidtog särskilda åtgärder beroende på omständigheterna nämnden vad ställd inför. Från tilldelandet av varningar till beslutandet av att internera alkoholmissbrukare på alkoholistanstalt, mängden av åtgärder som nämnden vidtog för att motarbeta alkoholismen avgjordes beroende på vad nämnden ansåg vara nödvändigt. Vad utvecklingen mellan 1928–1944 visade så förbättrades nämndens verksamhet när det kom till deras kapital, organisation och personal. Alkoholismens utveckling i Västra Frölunda visar på att det inte finns en tydlig trend för hela perioden 1928–1944, utan trenden skiftar mellan åren. Vad som noterades var det låga antalet av fyllerifall för åren mellan 1928–1931 och det höga antalet fyllerifall för 1932 och framåt.

This paper discusses Karlstad’s sobriety committee view on the drinking as a societal problem during the period 1941–1950. The purpose of the study is to investigate how the sobriety committee in Karlstad saw drinking as a problem and what measures were put in place to deal with it between the years 1941–1950.The study used a qualitative research method, and the empirical material has consisted of Karlstad’s sobriety committee’s annual reports from the years 1941–1950. The material was read several times and sorted and reduced with the help of focused coding where clear problem areas, reasons behind the drinking and measures and their possible results were what was sought. The results were analyzed with the help of previous research and the theory of the actor and structure model.The results show in what way the drinking was considered problematic where the focus ended up on youth drunkenness and widespread illegal trade with alchohol. These two problems were also the clearest reasons for the city’s negative state of sobriety. Descriptions of the sobriety committee’s work and measures show a resignation. Using the actor and structure model, one sees how structures to curb drinking in the city emerged and were connected. One can find a problem with the social structures that the inhabitants grew up with contributed to increased drinking.