This dissertation examines migrants during a time of large-scale socio-economic transformations. These changes were particularly evident in the nineteenth-century town of Sundsvall, Sweden, to which thousands of men and women moved. The causes and consequences of their arrival are analyzed by considering migrants’ geographical backgrounds, socio-economic and demographic characteristics, and their life-courses in the town. The results are explained by employing a micro-perspective focusing on individual migrants and a macro-perspective that, in addition to acknowledging the importance of structural socio-economic changes, also takes into account the current gender regime. The paths and experiences of women during the period of industrialization are particularly emphasized. Computerized parish registers enable this study to clarify gendered patterns of socio-spatial mobility. It finds differences and similarities between male and female migrants and illuminates their features in pre-industrial and urban-industrial Sundsvall. The influx increased remarkably over time but its even gender distribution and the characteristics of migrants remained fairly constant even though the town’s economic life was based on the surrounding sawmill industry that should have favored men’s arrival. Female migrants traveled shorter distances but they responded to business cycles in much the same way as men did and paralleled their length of residence in the town. The routes migrants took to Sundsvall were largely gendered and so were the consequences of their arrival. Life-course analyses show that a high level of social stability characterized most migrants during their stay in the town, but men particularly benefited from the economic transformation that was underway. Women seldom experienced upward social mobility although the additional sources used here such as local newspapers reveal they were very active in the urban labor market. In addition to gender several factors influenced patterns of migration such as socio-economic transformations, the availability of social networks, improving transportation, and a growing supply of information. Migrants’ multiple movements reveal that regional and larger migration systems brought people to Sundsvall but also encouraged them to leave. Their frequent travels illuminates the process of migration on individual and structural levels and shed light onto the slow process of urbanization in Sweden. Shifts in women’s migration patterns are viewed both as a protest against gendered constraints and as a result of the wider public space and labor opportunities they achieved through the introduction of legal and socio-economic reforms in the late nineteenth-century. This thesis shows the necessity to employ both micro- and macro-perspectives inspired by approaches used in different disciplines to conceptualize migrants and their experience of socio-spatial mobility. The use of a variety of methods and diverse array of sources benefits such efforts and helps identify gendered patterns and women’s paths. These methodologies allow us to recognize migrants as agents of change who negotiated a turbulent time and setting that influenced their socio-spatial mobility. / digitalisering@umu

By the late nineteenth century childbirth was firmly established in the domestic sphere. However, in the early years of the twentieth century different forms of maternity clinics were established where normal, as well as complicated, deliveries could take place. The aim of this dissertation is to analyse the institutionalisation of maternity care in a local urban context, the role of women in confinement in this process, and its impact on infant mortality. The geographical setting of the thesis is Sundsvall, a town in northern Sweden. The study concentrates on the period spanning from 1900 to 1930, when local communities, rather than federal agencies, were charged with creating and implementing community standards for maternity care. In order to lower the mortality rate of illegitimate infants, and to improve delivery conditions for unmarried women, a maternity home was opened in Sundsvall in 1913. Moreover, a maternity ward was established at the local hospital in 1920. In this study it is clear, that when institutional maternity care became available, the transition was rapid and unhesitating. When analysing the local practices it is possible to highlight the central role women played as part of this process. Initially indigent women and women bearing children out of wedlock accepted the institutional alternative, but shortly thereafter married women of means turned to the newly created wards. As a result of this early acceptance, these institutions were soon filled to capacity. During the period in question a significant reduction in infant mortality rates can be noticed in the Swedish towns. A reasonable assumption is that the institutionalisation of maternity care improved infants chances of survival. In the study it is suggested that the institutionalised maternity care made an impact on neonatal mortality, as well as on post-neonatal mortality. The study shows that local practices of care played a key role in infant survival. This dissertation reveals the value of examining local practices in order to understand the rapid changes of maternity care. Childbirth changed from being a private matter, taking place in one’s home, to be a public concern, taking place in the institutional setting. At the 1937 Parliament (Riksdag) the responsibility for institutionalised maternity care became a public and a State concern, and maternity care became a part of the Swedish welfare system.

The present dissertation deals with the factors influencing the professional careers of mer-chants and craftsmen working in the Swedish town of Sundsvall between 1850 and 1900. The most important hypotheses are: To what degree did social origins influence an entre-preneur's opportunities for running his business? How many of the children of these busi-nessmen assumed and maintained their parents' social status upon attaining adulthood? What significance did the entrepreneur's spouse have for his business activities? To what degree were his economic activities influenced by joining local voluntary associations? By combining data culled from the parish registers of the Swedish Lutheran Church, the poll tax registers and the primary source material for national trade statistics, the author has been able to identify the individuals who worked as entrepreneurs in Sundsvall during the period under investigation, what they paid in business income tax each year, the profes-sional titles they possessed and the places in which they and their relatives resided during their lifetimes. The results show that the majority of the most successful younger entrepreneurs active in the town before the introduction of freedom of trade in Sweden in the year 1864 were mostly immigrants from other parts of the country, who had furthermore come from rela-tively modest backgrounds. However, the social and geographic origins of these entrepre-neur's wives has proven to be of central significance to the success of the business, in in-stances where she had been raised in a business family from Sundsvall. The professional skill of the entrepreneur together with his wife's familiarity with the town, in all likelihood also combined with her inherited cultural capital, contributed to creating a demand from the local populace for the goods or services sold by the company / <p>Distrubution: Institutionen för idé- och samhällsstudier, Umeå universitet,, 901 87 Umeå, 090-786 50 00</p>

<p>This study deals with the intergenerational coresidence during the nineteenth century. The main focus is placed on the possible differences in the coresidences among parents and children and whether demographic transition and industrialization changed this relation. Were parents and children living in the same household? It was also important to study the children network; if the children did not live with their parents, where did they live? In the neighbourhoods, in the parish or in another area? Two perspectives were mainly considered, industrialization and demographic transition. On one hand industrialization gave children the opportunity to work outside the parental household and consequently the relationship between parents and children probably became weaker. On the other hand the fall of infant mortality would have facilitated the creation of a new complex household. Did industrialization with a new labour market change in decline the coresidence among parents and children? Or did the fall of mortality increase the number of coresidences? Two more factors influenced the coresidences, social status of the first generation and number of children born. The area of study is the region of Sundsvall, situated in middle Sweden. During the nineteenth century this region experienced a fall of infant mortality and in the middle of the century the introduction of steam-sawmills started and it arrived to be one of the largest sawmill districts at the world in the end of the century. The cohort chosen regarded people born between 1770 and 1820 and they lived their old age in the Sundsvall district. The first methodological approach is cross-sectional and analyses the entire cohort. The second method is a longitudinal analysis of a micro study of 135 people. The results show the decrease of the coresidences between the two generations when parents were 80 years old. In the previous years no difference has been found between the preindustrial and industrial period, thus the decline of mortality did not help the increase of coresidences. Social status was the most determinant factor for the creation of coresidence. People employed in agriculture, peasants and crofters were more likely to coreside with married children compared to the workers’ groups. Social difference increases with the industrialization, workers experienced the decline of coresidence in a stronger way compared to the others groups. The number of children born from the first generation helps in a marginal way the creation of coresidences. The main difference was between one or more children born, but no differences were found among those people who had two children or more. The micro study put in evidence the life cycle of the family. Peasants and crofters were the most likely to experience the cycle of the stem family. However the coresidence could be interrupted by the death or the migration of the family members. Other alternatives as the presences of children in the neighbourhoods or the coresidence with unmarried children were noticed. Finally, the study showed that sons were more likely to live with their parents compared to daughters but in one third of the cases the first generation constituted the stem family with a daughter.</p>

This dissertation studies the establishment and demographic development of the sawmill communities that emerged in the Sundsvall district during the latter half of the 19th century.  The intention is to highlight the importance of the sawmill communities and their resident populations by discussing community construction from a demographic perspective as well as socially and symbolically. Based on church registers, this is a longitudinal study that includes information from 31 individual sawmill communities. This study has shown that the establishment and demographic development of the sawmill communities was not an instant process that necessarily followed the construction of the sawmill industries. The prerequisites of the geographical locations and year of establishment influenced population development, but the speed and size of the settlements were individual to each mill site. More prosperous times for the industry during the 1870s resulted in that migration increased consequently leading to quickly populated communities and larger registered core populations in residence. Migration to the sawmill communities from within the parishes was infrequent and the geographical backgrounds revealed that an extremely small proportion of the populations had been born within the district, implying a migratory hesitation among locally born. The sawmill populations were male-dominated due to the large groups of temporary workers inhabiting the communities, although, adult males barely made up one-third of the registered populations. The largest demographic group was children aged 0-14 years. The strong presence of children and high proportions of married individuals suggests that the sawmill communities were family oriented communities, more so than non-sawmill areas. Long-time settled families had usually formed kinship networks with other residents. This dissertation concludes that while time was important for the development of the sawmill communities, so were the registered populations residing in these communities. Residency would have been key in claiming belonging to the sawmill communities and to be considered as a real sawmill worker. Residency, family and kin therefore contributed to the construction of community structures, geographically, socially and symbolically.

This study deals with the intergenerational coresidence during the nineteenth century. The main focus is placed on the possible differences in the coresidences among parents and children and whether demographic transition and industrialization changed this relation. Were parents and children living in the same household? It was also important to study the children network; if the children did not live with their parents, where did they live? In the neighbourhoods, in the parish or in another area? Two perspectives were mainly considered, industrialization and demographic transition. On one hand industrialization gave children the opportunity to work outside the parental household and consequently the relationship between parents and children probably became weaker. On the other hand the fall of infant mortality would have facilitated the creation of a new complex household. Did industrialization with a new labour market change in decline the coresidence among parents and children? Or did the fall of mortality increase the number of coresidences? Two more factors influenced the coresidences, social status of the first generation and number of children born. The area of study is the region of Sundsvall, situated in middle Sweden. During the nineteenth century this region experienced a fall of infant mortality and in the middle of the century the introduction of steam-sawmills started and it arrived to be one of the largest sawmill districts at the world in the end of the century. The cohort chosen regarded people born between 1770 and 1820 and they lived their old age in the Sundsvall district. The first methodological approach is cross-sectional and analyses the entire cohort. The second method is a longitudinal analysis of a micro study of 135 people. The results show the decrease of the coresidences between the two generations when parents were 80 years old. In the previous years no difference has been found between the preindustrial and industrial period, thus the decline of mortality did not help the increase of coresidences. Social status was the most determinant factor for the creation of coresidence. People employed in agriculture, peasants and crofters were more likely to coreside with married children compared to the workers’ groups. Social difference increases with the industrialization, workers experienced the decline of coresidence in a stronger way compared to the others groups. The number of children born from the first generation helps in a marginal way the creation of coresidences. The main difference was between one or more children born, but no differences were found among those people who had two children or more. The micro study put in evidence the life cycle of the family. Peasants and crofters were the most likely to experience the cycle of the stem family. However the coresidence could be interrupted by the death or the migration of the family members. Other alternatives as the presences of children in the neighbourhoods or the coresidence with unmarried children were noticed. Finally, the study showed that sons were more likely to live with their parents compared to daughters but in one third of the cases the first generation constituted the stem family with a daughter.

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur Sundsvalls Tidning framställt Länssjukhuset Sundsvall Härnösand vid rapporteringen om nedskärningarna, samt hur denna framställning påverkat organisationens kommunikatörers arbete. Teori: Teorier som används i studien handlar om hur händelser blir nyheter, nyhetsvärdering, media reputation samt mediernas gestaltningsmakt, med tyngdpunkt på framing. Vi tar även upp teorier om internkommunikation under förändringar och nedskärningar samt kommunikatörens roll. Metod: Kvantitativ innehållsanalys och kvalitativa samtalsintervjuer. Material: Nyhetsartiklar som berör nedskärningarna vid Länssjukhuset Sundsvall Härnösand i Sundsvalls Tidning under tidsperioden 1-28 februari 2010 samt intervjuunderlag med kommunikatörer vid Länssjukhuset Sundsvall Härnösand. Huvudsakligt resultat: Vårt resultat visade att Länssjukhuset främst framställdes genom skandalgestaltning, samt att en negativ vinkel dominerade rapporteringen. En del av denna framställning utgjordes av sjukhusledningen som lyftes fram genom personifiering samt framställdes som inkompetenta. I många fall kritiserades både sjukhusledning och landstingsledning. Medarbetarna framställdes däremot som offer i processen. Vi jämförde våra resultat från artiklarna med intervjuer med två kommunikatörer. Genom intervjuerna framkom det att den direkta påverkan på kommunikatörerna var ganska liten. De ser dock att det finns saker de skulle behöva förändra inför framtiden. De ansåg även att den stora mediala uppmärksamheten kommit som en överraskning.

Den 1 juli 2005 upphörde polisens befogenheter till självständiga omhändertaganden med stöd av lag (1988:870) om vård av missbrukare (LVM). Förändringen var ett resultat av lagstiftarens önskan av att renodla beslut av social karaktär till socialtjänsten. Eftersom socialtjänsten står för såväl utredningen som senare ansökan om tvångsvård i rätten ansågs förslaget naturligt i en sammanhängande vårdkedja. För den enskilde polismannen på fältet innebar den nya lagen inte bara att befogenheten av ingripa för att säkerställa vård nu gavs en mer akut utformning, utan också att den hamnade såsom en bestämmelse i polislagen med hänvisning till det tidigare lagrummet (13 § LVM). Enligt tidigare ordning kunde poliser på fältet fatta självständiga och interimistiska beslut om LVM i brådskande situationer och i andra fall överlåta eventuella beslut åt till företrädare för polismyndigheten. Beslutsordningen möjliggjorde för polismannen att föredra ett ärende och i förekommande fall rådgöra kring innebörden av ett enskilt rekvisit och huruvida rättsfakta i det enskilda fallet svarade mot det. Det kan därför finnas skäl att tro att polismännens kunskaper om LVM kan ha varit större innan förändringen, och att risken är stor att dessa självständiga beslut resulterar i viss kunskapshämning. Det ”nya” lagrummet, 12a § polislag (1984:387) ger en polisman rätt att under vissa förutsättningar omhänderta missbrukare genom att först göra en självständig bedömning av rättsfakta i situationer av brådskande karaktär. Genom lagrummet har polismannen inte bara att ta ställning till rena skyndsamhets-, och skaderekvisit utan också till att göra en prognos om det kan bli aktuellt med tvångsvård. Prognosen om tvångsvård sker i två steg där det första kommer av frågan om det skäligt att anta att socialnämnden omedelbart kommer att omhänderta missbrukaren. Av den lagtekniska överlappningen följer också att beakta portalparagrafen i LVM frågan om huruvida det är sannolikt att rätten kommer att besluta om vård. Polismannen måste således självständigt och i en isolerad situation söka sätta sig in i hur en annan myndighet och en domstol kan komma att besluta, något mynnar ut i att flera frågor är tvungna att ställas. Gällande rätt ger vid handen att de situationer som åsyftas för att ett lagligen grundat omhändertagande ska kunna ske är att de ska vara av mycket allvarlig karaktär och kräva en omedelbar åtgärd. I förarbetena till den nya lagen låg bland annat en statlig utredning som kvantitativt undersökte i vilken omfattning polisen beslutade om omedelbara omhändertaganden med stöd av 13 § LVM. En av flera slutsatser var att städerna Umeå och Sundsvall stod för anmärkningsvärt många omhändertaganden sett till vad som var fallet i övriga landet. Enbart Sundsvall svarade under en period för mer än 10 procent av samtliga beslut om omedelbara omhändertaganden som polisen gjorde i hela landet. Genom den kvantitativa undersökning som denna studie presenterar kan konstateras att Sundsvall fortfarande står för anmärkningsvärt många omhändertaganden i förhållande till andra orter. Rättstillämpningen bland de undersökta städerna och länen har i regel samtidigt sjunkit avsevärt jämfört med vad som var fallet med den gamla beslutsordningen. I en studie av kvalitativt slag där 70 omhändertagandeblad från Sundsvall och sju länspolismyndigheter undersökts, kan konstateras att det föreligger en anmärkningsvärd diskrepans mellan gällande rätt och de rättsfakta som följer av undersökt empiri. Trots en mycket vid bedömning av rättsfakta och en extensiv bedömning av gällande rätt rörande begreppen ”fortgående missbruk” och ”överhängande och allvarlig risk för missbrukarens hälsa” lever den undersökta dokumentationen bara upp till gällande rätt i 41 procent av fallen. Slutsatsen är att en komplex lagteknisk konstruktion av överlappande slag resulterar i färre antal polisiära omhändertaganden och att majoriteten av den polisiära dokumentationen inte lever upp till lagstadgade krav. / On July 1, 2005, the police force’s powers to independently arrest with the support of Law (1988:870), which includes care of addicts (LVM), ended. The change was a result of the legislator’s desire to reorganize decisions of an individual’s character to the Social Services.Since the Social Services are in charge of both the investigation as well as the application for involuntary care through the Court System, the proposal seemed appropriate in a continuous care chain. For the individual police officer in the field, the new law meant not only that the powers to arrest in order to ensure care now were given a more acute format, but that also the powers became a provision in the police law with reference to the previous Law (13 § LVM). According to the previous arrangement, the police officers in the field could make independent and provisional decisions about LVM in urgent situations and in other cases, leaving the potential decisions to representatives of the police force.  The decision-making procedure allowed the police officer to prefer a case, and where appropriate, seek advice on the implications of individual acts and whether evidence existed for the case. There are therefore reasons to believe that the police officers’ knowledge regarding LVM may have been larger prior to the change, and that the risk is great that these independent decisions may result in particular skill inhibition.The "new" law, 12a § police law (1984: 387) gives a police officer the right to, under certain circumstances, arrest drug users by first making an independent assessment of the evidence in situations of urgency. Through the law, the police officer must not only make a decision of the urgency and the potential of harm to the individual, but also make a prediction whether the individual may need involuntary care. The prediction of involuntary care takes place in two steps where the first one involves the question whether it is fair to assume that the Social Services will immediately detain the addict. The technical overlap of the law also means that one must take into account the paragraph in LVM regarding the question whether it is likely that the court will rule on care for the addict. Thus, the police officer must therefore independently and in an isolated situation, attempt to predict what a different agency and court may decide, resulting in a number of issues that are yet to be addressed. The current law states that situations where a legally founded arrest can be made include those which are very serious in nature and those that require immediate action.Background research to the new law included a government funded study which quantitatively examined to what extent the police decided on the immediate arrests pursuant to section 13 § LVM. One of several conclusions was that the cities of Umeå andSundsvallhad a remarkable number of arrests compared to the case in the rest of the country.  In a given time period, the police in the city of Sundsvall made more than 10% of all decisions of immediate arrests in the whole  country. As a result of the quantitative study that is presented, it can be argued thatSundsvallstill stands for a remarkable number of arrests in relation to other cities. Enforcement of the law among the surveyed cities and counties has generally simultaneously dropped considerably compared to what was the case with the old decision-making procedure. In a qualitative study where 70 arrests fromSundsvalland seven county police agencies were investigated, it can be concluded that a remarkable discrepancy between the law and the evidence that follow. Despite a wide-ranging assessment of the evidence and an extensive assessment of the current law concerning the concepts of "ongoing abuse" and “imminent and serious risk to the addict’s health” the examined documentation only supports the current law in 41% of cases. The conclusion is that a complex technical structure of overlapping laws results in fewer number of police arrests and that the majority of the police documentation does not live up to the legal requirements.

In 2003 the libraries of ten municipalities in the northern part of Sweden were each given 10 000 (SEK) by the BIN-project to purchase books on demand instead of making inter-library loans. This attempt was called Köpa på efterfrågan (Purchasing on demand). The purpose of this master thesis is to evalutate Köpa på efterfrågan. The results of the evaluation show that the books purchased on demand were quite popular. Almost all the purchased books were non-fictional with most books being bought within the field of medicin. There is also a correspondence between the education held in the participating municipality and which subject the purchased books belonged to. The libraries have all made rather similar purchases regarding subject, with the exception of Robertsfors. The most expensive subject was medicin, both per book and overall. The libraries have mostly bought their books on Internet bookstores due to their low cost and swift delivery. Purchasing on demand entails more benefits than inter-library lending, as it is less expensive, and a book, once bought, is available on the shelf for others to borrow it, although the increase of the library’s collection demands more thorough media-planning.

This study deals with the impact of industrialisation and urbanisation on the living conditions of aged men and women. By studying labour force participation, savings and pensions, the role of the family, and the extent of dependency of aged men and women from a gender and class perspective, continuities and changes between pre-industrial and industrial times are examined. The main focus is placed on the situation of elderly persons living in the town of Sundsvall between 1830 and 1930. This town became the commercial centre of one of the largest saw-mill districts in the world at the end of the nineteenth century. The residence patterns of old men and women in Sundsvall are also compared with those in two other Swedish industrialised urban areas; the capital Stockholm and the textile centre Norrköping. According to modernisation theorists, industrialisation and urbanisation led to an increase in dependency in old age, due to weakening family ties and unemployment. This study shows the complexity of the issue. It is true that some sources reveal a declining proportion of men participating in the labour force at the very end of the period of observation, but this was primarily due to the introduction of the national pension system in 1914. On the other hand, other records show a stability or even an increasing proportion of elderly men and women in the labour market. By contrast with previous studies of the residence patterns of aged persons, this dissertation shows a very high percentage of elderly women living alone in all three urban areas selected for study. However, this was not solely a sign of isolation, since the vast majority of those elderly living in households of their own had children residing in the vicinity. Furthermore, many old men and women shared households with their children, although this pattern was less common among the working class. The role of off-spring appears to have been important both in pre-industrial and industrial times. The residence patterns of the urban elderly were probably influenced by traditional rural living arrangements, to the extent that old couples and their married children often lived close to each other but usually maintained households of their own. Old parents and their adult children might have preferred to live in separate households instead of crowding in with each other. The unmarried elderly were probably most affected by the transformations taking place at the end of the nineteenth century. A considerable number of them migrated late in life, leaving all their relatives behind. Therefore, they became highly vulnerable. Unmarried men tended to be more exposed to the dangers of urban life. They probably experienced tougher working conditions, had weaker social networks, and could not manage on their own to the same extent as women. Therefore, a larger propor-tion of men than women ended up in the workhouse. / digitalisering@umu