Erik Bengtsson
Senior lecturer
Rika och fattiga: Klassrelationer och historisk ekonomisk ojämlikhet i Stockholm på 1600–1700-talen
Author
Summary, in English
English summary
”Class Relations and Historical Economic Inequality: Stockholm in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries”.
Erik Bengtsson
Arbetarhistoria, 2020
This article describes and discusses economic inequality in seventeenth and eighteenth century Stockholm. I describe the distribution of wealth, using probate inventories from 1650, 1700 and 1715, and wealth tax data from 1715. The distribution was very unequal: the ten percent wealthiest in the population held around 90 per cent of total wealth. I discuss why inequality was so high, focusing on the class structure of the city with a large working class, with quite poor living standards, and small elites of merchants and noblemen, and on the repressive character of the state. I argue that the high inequality was to a large degree shaped by class power, exercised through the state apparatus. I argue that the class perspective is important for the study of historical economic inequality.
”Class Relations and Historical Economic Inequality: Stockholm in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries”.
Erik Bengtsson
Arbetarhistoria, 2020
This article describes and discusses economic inequality in seventeenth and eighteenth century Stockholm. I describe the distribution of wealth, using probate inventories from 1650, 1700 and 1715, and wealth tax data from 1715. The distribution was very unequal: the ten percent wealthiest in the population held around 90 per cent of total wealth. I discuss why inequality was so high, focusing on the class structure of the city with a large working class, with quite poor living standards, and small elites of merchants and noblemen, and on the repressive character of the state. I argue that the high inequality was to a large degree shaped by class power, exercised through the state apparatus. I argue that the class perspective is important for the study of historical economic inequality.
Department/s
- Department of Economic History
Publishing year
2020-06
Language
Swedish
Pages
78-83
Publication/Series
Arbetarhistoria: meddelande från arbetarrörelsens arkiv och bibliotek
Volume
173-174
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Arbetarrörelsens arkiv och bibliotek
Topic
- History
- Economic History
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0281-7446