Printing School Democracy from Below: Student Press Activities as Collective Action in Mid-Post-War Sweden

Abstract

This article deals with the growth of a national school student press in Sweden during the 1950s and first half of the 1960s. It outlays the role of student magazines in furthering school democracy by investigating the nationwide periodical SECO-aktuellt and the press organisation SVEP (Svensk Elevpress). The article departs from an understanding of press activity among school youth as a form of collective action during the mid-post-war period. This activity became part of a pupil movement that demanded increased influence and participation in decision making, as well as expanded forms of self-government. Drawing from earlier historical research, the article portrays this press activity as taking place “from below” since youth often was marginalised in the past and not always seen as legitimate historical actors. The article also deploys perspectives from research on social movements, and analyses school student press activities in Sweden as “repertoires of contention.”

Keywords

• collective action
• school magazines
• school democracy
• social movements
• repertoires of contention