Preliminary Programme

Wed 12 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Thu 13 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Fri 14 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Sat 15 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00

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Friday 14 April 2023 11.00 - 13.00
V-10 SOC11 Social History and Biographical Dictionaries
Västra Hamngatan 25 AK2 134
Network: Social Inequality Chair: Katharina Scharf
Organizers: - Discussants: -
Åsa Karlsson : Social History in the Dictionary of Swedish National Biography
Social History in the Dictionary of Swedish National Biography
Åsa Karlsson, Editor-in-Chief, Ph.D.
Session: Biographical Dictionaries as a Source for Social History

What can a biographical dictionary tell us about social history? In this paper I will discuss the problem of representation in a biographical dictionary and how we best can use these ... (Show more)
Social History in the Dictionary of Swedish National Biography
Åsa Karlsson, Editor-in-Chief, Ph.D.
Session: Biographical Dictionaries as a Source for Social History

What can a biographical dictionary tell us about social history? In this paper I will discuss the problem of representation in a biographical dictionary and how we best can use these dictionaries for social history. The Dictionary of Swedish National Biography (Svenskt biografiskt lexikon, SBL) is one of the oldest biographical dictionaries still in progress. The work started already in 1913 and the first volume was published five years later. The long history gives us an opportunity to study how the social factor has changed over the years.
The most important and also most difficult question for the editorial staff when working with a biographical dictionary is the question of selection: Who is important enough to be included? What principles should be applied when choosing persons to put in the dictionary? The answers to these questions influence the possibilities to use the dictionary for the study of social history. One reason is that the answers have shifted during time.
One change is the broadening of the occupational groups over the years. New groups have been included and at the same time other groups, who were important 100 years ago, have disappeared. An important explanation is that humanities and social sciences have changed a lot during this time. When the interest in research shifts it is reflected in the dictionary.
One main social change in society, and in the research community, is the increasing importance of women. More women have careers, more are scientists and more study the impact of women in society. All this has led to an increasing number of women included in the dictionary. Other social changes in society are also reflected. The rights of sexual minorities have for instance been an important development and made it possible to openly write about it in SBL.
All these social changes have influenced SBL and made it a very different dictionary than it was 100 years ago. In the paper I will discuss the importance of these changes and how a biographical dictionary can be used for the study of social history. (Show less)

Ineke Maas, Marco H.D. van Leeuwen : Notable Women in the Netherlands in the 19th and 20th Century: Exploring their Origins
This paper uses (auto)biographical data to describe the social origins of notable Dutch women and compares them with a representative sample of the Dutch population for the same period. We further analyze what characteristics and resources made these women so successful.

Marco H.D. van Leeuwen, Ineke Maas : Social Mobility of Notable Women in the 19th and 20th Century
This paper studies social mobility of notable women in the 19th and 20th century. It explores a new way forward in matching the richness of individual lives as conveyed in (auto)biographies with the conceptual rigor of status attainment models



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