The Emergence of a Modern Youth Culture: The Swedish 1930s

Abstract

This study traces the emergence of a modern youth culture in the 1930s in Sweden, thus challenging the view that it was born in the 1950s. Sweden, at that time, was a society at the crossroads; all over culture and society, modernity opposed what was given. The new youth culture is traced through a study offive popular cultural forms-boys' literature, particularly aviation books, girls' literature, sport, and national and US film, with a special focus on music-looking particularly for its patterning in what is called the boundary and intensity dimensions. Thus, it is possible to demonstrate rich cultural resources for a modern youth culture. However, balancing this against still existing socioeconomic restrictions makes the picture more ambiguous. What is found is not a generalized modern youth culture, but its emergence, resonating in interesting ways with the new Folkhem (the People's Home).