Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Kultur-, Sozial- und Bildungswissenschaftliche Fakultät - Vergleichende und Internationale Erziehungswissenschaft

Bildungspolitik und Wirtschaft in Schweden 1930-2000

Vorstellungen vom Zusammenhang zwischen Wirtschaft und Bildungssystem im bildungspolitischen Diskurs in Schweden, 1930-2000
The relationship between economic development on the one hand and the development of the educational system on the other has traditionally been an important field of interest within economics of education. Often, this relationship is studied by relating time series of certain educational indicators such as educational expenditure or enrolment data with economic indicators such as GDP. Interesting as the question of the development of these quantitative indicators and of the existence of (statistical) causalities between them may be, one has to keep in mind that these highly aggregated indicators are not in any way natural entities, but the result of aggregate human action. Thus, both policy decisions and the actions of individuals in educational matters are heavily influenced by socially conditioned and diversified norms, notions, perceptions and aspirations that are constantly changing over time. Thus, the study of the relation between economic and educational development should not be restricted to the quantitative level and the establishment of statistical causalities. Approaches that study the relation between education and economy purely by looking at the large aggregates should be complemented by studies of the discursive level, at which the knowledgeable human agents make sense of their actions. In my dissertation, I will try to trace the semantic construction of the relationship between economic development and the educational policy discourse in Sweden from the 1930s to the 1990s. Through a historical discourse analysis of Swedish government committee reports published in the SOU (statens offentliga utredningar)-series, the shifting nature of the relationship between the economy and the educational system, as it was perceived by policy-makers, will become clear.

Projektleitung: Prof. Dr. phil. Jürgen Schriewer

Weitere Projektleitungen: Florian Waldow

Laufzeit: 01/2000 - 12/2004
Publikationen:
Waldow, Florian. 2001. "The suggestive power of numbers. Some remarks on the problem of the accuracy of quantitative indicators in comparative historical research". Historical Social Research - Historische Sozialforschung, 26 (4), pp.125-140.