Det uppväxande släktet : En analys av begreppet ungdom mellan 1750–1850

Sammanfattning: This essay analyses the concept of youth in protocols from rural community councils in the Swedish municipality of Varberg between the years 1750–1850. These protocols contain decision making regarding subjects such as moral behavior, education, and finance. Analysis of these protocols reveal an understanding of youth or adolescence as being valued as a foundation for future society. The analysis reveals an inclination towards shielding youth from immoral behavior and guiding them towards what was considered an amiable lifestyle. The community councils are shown by this essay to be particularly concerned with adults opening their houses to activities for youth, such as drinking, dancing and card games, described as organizing a lekstuga – ‘playhouse’. The foremost condemned for these acts by the councils, is shown in most cases to be the adults themselves, rather than the youth. The youth are described as being enticed and misled by the older generations. These results stand in contrast with other historical research which has mainly presented youth as oppressed by church authority through rigid social control. The results of this essay show that the idea of ‘shielding and guiding’ youth become increasingly fortified during the period 1750–1850, especially in relation to the foundations of the early Swedish primary school, folkskolan.