Technological Development and Industrial Exhibitions, 1850–1914: Sweden in an International Perspective by Göran Ahlström

Abstract

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 251 serve their claim to skill and respectability, rested on the miserably paid sewing of wives and daughters. Rather than a simple male/ female opposition, there was a family-level solution to declining wages in handweaving which preserved a bitter autonomy (based on the women’s rejection of individual interest) of the household vis- à-vis capitalism. The authors’ emphasis on often neglected connections among urban and dispersed craft production, new technologies, gender, and eventual industrialization, while maintaining an emphasis on agency, make this an engaging and thought-provoking volume. Louise A. Tilly Dr. Tilly is professor of history and sociology at the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research. She is the author of Politics and Class in Milan, 18811901 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992) and TheEuropean Experience ofDeclin­ ing Fertility, 1850-1970 (Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1992). Technological Development and Industrial Exhibitions, 1850-1914: Swe­ den in an International Perspective. By Goran Ahlstrom. Lund, Swe­ den: Lund University Press, 1996. Pp. 251; tables, notes, bibliogra­ phy, index. £19.95 (cloth). At the Great Exhibition in London in 1851 Swedish representa­ tion among the exhibitors was extremely poor, which has been said to reflect the weak state of Swedish industry at that time. Tradition­ ally, the last decades of the 19th and the first decades of the 20th century have been considered the period when Sweden became an industrialized country. In this volume Goran Ahlstrom argues against thatview. After examining the presence ofSwedish industrial firms and the prizes awarded to them at the exhibitions in London in 1851 and 1862, Paris in 1855, 1867 and 1900, Vienna in 1873, Philadelphia in 1876, and Chicago in 1893, he concludes that it is “entirely incorrect to assert that Sweden was an underdeveloped re­ gion in terms of industrial technology up till . . . the later part of the century” (p. 211). He maintains that industrialization was well under way by the 1850s and that in some particular branches of in­ dustry, not least in mining and in iron and steel, Sweden was on a par with the leading industrial nations. Ahlstrom is an economic historian whose research has paid partic­ ular attention to technology and industry. In an earlier book, Engi­ neers and Industrial Growth (London: Croom Helm, 1982), he empha­ sized the importance of engineering education in the process of industrial growth and compared Sweden with Germany, England, and France. To some extent that theme recurs in the present study. In the first halfof the book, world exhibitions and Swedish partici­ pation in them are discussed in detail. The performance of the dif­ ferent nations was considered a “fairly reliable measure” of their 252 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE technological and cultural standing and thereby also their level of civilization. In this context Sweden was considered to have “taken a larger and more honorable proportion at every successive world exhibition” (p. 44). From statistics on the number ofSwedish exhibi­ tors and medals awarded to them and also from jury reports, Ahl­ strom is able to give a picture of a country going through a process of rapid development in many fields of industry. In the latter part of the book he presents rich empirical material on the major industrial companies in the country in order to deal with the subject of diffu­ sion of technology and industrial development. According to Ahlstrom, the world exhibitions of the 19th century were of great importance in the diffusion of industrial technology. Even if knowledge could be transferred through, for instance, tech­ nicaljournals, the firsthand contactwith “the frontier oftechnologi­ cal knowledge” through engineers and industrialists visiting exhibi­ tions was vital. Here Swedes could see the latest developments in different branches of industry and also visit industrial firms in the host country. Swedish companies that were represented at the exhi­ bitions would also have an opportunity to reach new markets. If they were awarded medals, that would be valuable when selling their products on the Swedish market. Unfortunately the reader will not find very much information on the question ofwhat Swedes visiting the exhibitions actually learned and to what extent this affected the development of Swedish indus­ try. Ahlstrom acknowledges that...