Who was going to become a teacher? The socio-economic background of primary school teachers in northern Sweden 1870–1950

Abstract

ABSTRACT By exploring demographic data on teachers through a Bordieusian lens, this study aims to analyse the socio-economic background of primary school teachers in northern Sweden depending on gender and type. The rural area under study follows a national development where the number of primarily female teachers and junior school teachers increased rapidly between 1870 and 1910. The results show an occupational reproduction of teachers between mother and daughter that is not present to the same extent in other parent–child combinations. Furthermore, almost half of the teachers born within the region came from a farming background, yet children of higher professionals showed the highest probability of becoming a teacher. The other group in the upper stratum, higher managers, instead had a very low probability of becoming a teacher. This thus suggests that the teacher track was more associated with a social background representing higher cultural capital rather than economic capital.