Valstatistik i bruk. Socialdemokratin, väljarna och den osäkra demokratin 1912–1929

Abstract

[Using election statistics. Social democracy, the electorate and Sweden’s uncertain democracy 1912–1929] Long before opinion polls and electoral research, official election statistics provided politically useful quantitative knowledge of voters. When voting rights and the electorate quickly expanded in Sweden in the early 1900s, this knowledge aroused considerable interest. Petter Tistedt’s article explores how three leading Swedish social democrats – Rickard Sandler, Gustav Moller and Per Albin Hansson – made use of election statistics during the breakthrough period of both Swedish democracy and the Swedish Social Democratic Party. The study shows how this form of knowledge was not regarded as an already finished, politically neutral view of the electorate. Instead, it was treated as an imperfect tool that could be reworked, criticized, and form the basis for new knowledge – or be dismissed. As such, it was drawn into crucial discussions about the representative claims of the party and its long-term strategies for parliamentary takeover. Publication history: Published original. (Published 16 June 2020) Citation: Tistedt, Petter (2020) “Valstatistik i bruk. Socialdemokratin, valjarna och den osakra demokratin 1912–1929”, in Arkiv. Tidskrift for samhallsanalys , issue 12, pp. 61–93. DOI: https://doi.org/10.13068/2000-6217.12.2