Computers and Welfare: The Swedish Debate on the Politics of Computerization in the 1970s and the 1980s
Paper i proceeding, 2015

In the 1950s and 1960s computers became part and parcel of the great modernization project – the creation of the modern welfare state. The ability to control and rationalize provided by the digital technology proved indispensable for the expanding public sector as well as for trade and business. At the turn of the decade, the effects of the new technology on Swedish society became increasingly apparent. This paper examines the debate on computer and politics in Sweden during the 1970s and the 1980s. It particularly discusses two issues that were hotly debated: integrity and jobs. The debate was occupied with the centralized solutions and systemic effects large-scale computing implied. In this debate computing technology was perceived as a threat, but at the same time there was a widely shared belief amongst debaters that it was possible to take control of the technology

welfare

Sweden

integrity

unemployment

IT-history

Computing policy

history of computing

Författare

Per Lundin

Chalmers, Teknikens ekonomi och organisation, Innovation and R&D Management

IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology

1868-4238 (ISSN) 1868-422X (eISSN)

Vol. 447 3-11
978-3-319-17145-6 (ISBN)

Styrkeområden

Informations- och kommunikationsteknik

Ämneskategorier

Teknikhistoria

DOI

10.1007/978-3-319-17145-6_1

ISBN

978-3-319-17145-6

Mer information

Skapat

2017-10-08