The Swedish civil defense during the Cold War Era was a well-developed and well-planned organization in comparison to many other countries. This caused civil defense ideas to come closer to individual citizens’ everyday lives and influence how they should adapt to the threat of nuclear war, thus creating a culture of civil defense. The purpose of this thesis is to elucidate what this militarization of everyday life looked like in Sweden during the Cold War and how it affected people’s everyday life. This is done through studying a civil defense journal between 1945-1975. The articles in the journal are analyzed by how they are portraying the day-to-day life in the context of civil defense. Partly through articles about propaganda and various civil defense courses and exercises, and partly through articles portraying the physical militarization of society, primarily fallout shelters and bunkers. Of particular interest is the contrast between the dark Cold War narrative and the narrative concerning the security and comfort provided by the welfare state. Finally, the thesis argues that the journal and its work can be seen in the context of militarization of everyday life. It tried to spread its militarizing vision in society, and did – incomparison to other countries – succeed in that pursuit. Militarization played a vital role in reaching out to the public, and in disseminating the idea of a welfare state that takes good care of its citizens, even during the hardest of times.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-343198 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Vesterlund, Mattias |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Historiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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