The Country of the Social Skyscrapers, Sweden 1930-1960

The Swedish society that we wish to discuss reaches its hig-hest degree of originality in the decades of 1930 to 1960. At the time Sweden stood out in its international context as an ultra-modern society, distinguishing itself from its Scandinavian surroundings as well. It is the Sweden that David Jenkins calls “The Progress Machine” and that Enrico Altavilla refers to as “Hell and Paradise” .
With the metaphor “social skyscrapers” we try to describe the radical modernity of this society, without entering judg-ments about its value as a social experiment. As any other modern city – of which New York is the best example – the modern society shows more or less desirable, practical and therefore also more or less lasting characteristics.