Thomas Etzemüller
The Romanticism of Rationality
Alva & Gunnar Myrdal - Social Engineering in Sweden

502 p., paperback, numerous illustrations, € 35.80
ISBN 978-3-8376-1270-7 (Bielefeld: transcript, 2010)

The "ambivalent modern age" has left its mark - also in Sweden. Social engineering seemed to be a way of counteracting the negative consequences of modernity by reorganising social relationships. Two of the world's best-known social engineers were Alva and Gunnar Myrdal. In Sweden, the USA and Asia between 1930 and 1980, they attempted to design a just social order that was, however, the prime example of a "normalisation society". A look at their exciting and conflict-ridden marriage shows that power relations can be analysed more precisely if they are located in the everyday practices of the experts.

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