Fattigdom som förlust av förmåga: Boende i jordkulor, kojor och annan fattigbebyggelse på den svenska landsbygden 1830–1900

Abstract

Poverty as capability deprivation: Shacks, earth huts, and other poor housing in rural Sweden, 1830–1900

From the mid-1800s to the First World War, Sweden transitioned from being a predominantly agrarian country to an industrial nation and living standards increased rapidly. However, poverty among the agricultural underclasses remained severe well into the twentieth century, evident in the poor housing, inadequate eldercare, and poor health. In this essay I examine poverty as expressed in poor living conditions in earth huts and shacks – examples of poor housing – in the Swedish countryside in the nineteenth century.

Behind high levels of material welfare, there can also be significant restrictions on people’s freedoms, curtailing their human rights, political freedoms, access to healthcare and education, eldercare, housing, and so on. Amartya Sen calls these restrictions ‘capability deprivation’ and a way to define poverty and identify the poor. The factors beyond low income that drive loss of capability include age, gender, class, illness, economic resources, disabilities, social roles and positions, and other conditions over which an individual has limited or no control. In other words, poverty is not only expressed in material life because of economic conditions; in the form of a loss of basic capabilities, poverty can also mean shameful social relationships with the individual’s community. However, housing cannot be reduced to the quality of the dwelling alone, because it has implications for a person’s well-being, self-esteem, and status in society. An overcrowded, drafty home with a leaky roof and no heating, ventilation, or natural light not only affects the individual’s well-being and health, but also their social opportunities to live a good life and how they are perceived by others.

The official reports by Sweden’s provincial doctors provide an insight into the capability deprivation that poverty entailed for those living in poor housing. There were recurring descriptions of overcrowding, poor sanitary conditions, poor health and disease, wretched housing standards with cold rooms, signs of uncleanliness and untidiness, poor lighting, low ceilings, and floors made of earth, stone slabs, or boards. These descriptions complement information from memory records, interviews, and photographs, where the condition and state of rural dwellings are particularly evident.