Fostering scientific elites in the shadow of the cold war 1962-1985
The project focuses on two forms of science competitions for high school pupils in Sweden during the period 1958-1989. The aim of the project is to analyze the role of the competitions in fostering scientific elites in the tension between democratic and meritocratic goals of schooling, between high school science and the scientific community, but also with regards to the shifting ideological contexts in which such a fostering was given meaning. The two forms of competition are 1) Utställningen Unga Forskare (1963-) and 2) Kemiolympiaden/Skolornas Fysiktävling (1974-1976).
Three analytical levels will be used which all have separate goals and questions.
A first level is conceptually oriented and deals with the shifting motives for organizing the contests. A second level is practice oriented and focuses on the participation of different students within these contests. A third level is system oriented and focuses on the institutional character of the competitions. The project is planned for three years (2019-2021) and is to be carried out through the studies of written material found in archives, journals, leaflets and memorabilia.
The project is expected to contribute with new knowledge on the importance of other platforms than traditionally highlighted spaces in the reproduction of scientific elites. It is also expected to give new insights into the image of Swedish educational politics during the latter half of the 20th century.
Final report
Aim and research questions
The overall aim of the project was to, from perspectives within history of education and history of science, depict and analyse scientific competitions for high school students in Sweden and abroad over a period of just over thirty years (1958—1989). The first of the two forms of competition was Unga forskare, which started in 1963 and was modeled after the American concept National Science Fair. The second was the so-called Science Olympiads in physics and chemistry (Skolornas fysiktäving and Kemiolympiaden) which were introduced in Sweden in 1974-1976 and developed after competitions in communist Eastern Europe, the International Physics Olympiad and the International Chemistry Olympiad respectively.
The analytical work within the project was intended to focus on the role of these competitions as social practices and processes of elite fostering – processes that took place in the tension between democratic and meritocratic ideals of schooling, between secondary science education and the academic world, and between the different ideological contexts of the time period.
The aim was divided into three sub-levels with specific objectives and questions. The first level was conceptually oriented with the specific goal of analysing the motives and ideas that gave rise to the contests. How were practices of elite fostering in science made possible through assumptions about the social importance of science and of meritocracy as the basis for the post-war educational system? The second level was practice-oriented and focused on student participation in the events. The specific goal was to understand in what concrete ways the competitions came to function as elitist practices. With what epistemic, material and symbolic attributes were the participants nurtured to develop self-images of being chosen? A third level has been system-oriented and aimed at the institutional nature of the competitions. The specific aim was to understand the arrangements as elite practices against the background of their respective positions in the different post-war educational systems. Is it possible to identify any differences in the design of the competitions between Sweden and other countries? If so, can such differences be understood in relation to the tension between meritocratic and democratic ideals in the post-war period?
Implementation and development
The project was intended to be carried out in two parts. A first part would study the Swedish competitions and a second part would follow the winners of the Swedish competitions in their participation on international arenas. The project's development gradually meant that it broadened its claims regarding the international dimensions. The application stated that it was "the Swedish students' participation in the competitions that is to be studied. In the national context, this is of course not a problem. In the material relating to the international arenas, travel reports from Swedish students and their accompanying teachers form a natural demarcation. In addition to this, the international material will be used to understand the different environments in which the Swedish students stayed - programs, ceremonies, speeches, photographs and other activities are things that may come into question." This objective was later expanded to also use a type of material that was available concerning participating students from other countries. In this way, the results have been made more relevant for an international readership. This had consequences to the extent that the purpose and research questions remained, but now also included more participating individuals. The Swedish examples have still formed an important part of the project, but not the only one.
The project has also expanded empirically by adding the event Skolornas matematiktävling alongside the other two competitions. Skolornas matematiktävling was introduced in Sweden in 1961.
During the course of the project, the concept of cultural or educational internationalisms has been added to the analytical focus. The term seeks to include ideas, movements or institutions that strove to reformulate relations between states through transnational exchanges or collaborations. For the project, this has meant that the two types of competitions were regarded as expressions of competing internationalisms during the Cold War.
Regarding the implementation of the project, the collection of materials has been affected by the restrictions that followed the spread of covid-19. I managed to follow the plan to the extent that I visited Unesco's archives in the summer of 2019. However, I have not been able to visit the Society for Science & the Public, the Smithsonian Institute, Washington or the International Information Center of the International Chemistry Olympiad, Bratislava. However, the development of digitization has made it possible to use material that I previously considered inaccessible. These types of material include, for example, blogs, magazines, books and newspapers in Polish, Russian and Hungarian.
Results and conclusions
The main findings are firstly that international science competitions for high school students between the years of the study were part of rival internationalisms that the Soviet Union and the United States developed and spread during the Cold War. More specifically, the competitions are considered as part of how infrastructures for secondary school science – and even more precisely activities outside of regular teaching – were incorporated into the cultural and scientific conflict that took place between the two ideological systems during the period. A distinguishing feature of the arrangements was that they - in each direction - developed into platforms for an early elite formation in science. Both competitions were highly selective and nurtured participants at the international events with messages that targeted their identities; the students were in a position where they were expected to represent their own country and satisfy the need for national prestige, but also found themselves in a position where they were encouraged to develop more transnational self-images of a global scientific youth elite that seemed to exceed national borders and ideological systems.
Secondly, the fact that Sweden was among the first countries to participate in both forms of competition has – within the project – been understood as a result of the nation's endeavour to secure good conditions for the advancement of domestic research, industrial production and economic growth, but also as a result of the Swedish self-perception of being a neutral state. Both of these ambitions can be understood as specific features of the social democratic welfare state during the time period, where educational and technological optimism existed side by side with an ambition to keep a distance to either political bloc.
Thridly, Swedish participation in both competitions was also adapted to domestic conditions in a way that never made them into a fully integrated element of the national educational system. The strong elite structures of the contests that existed in the USA and Eastern Europe met a Swedish educational discourse which, during the late 1960s and 1970s, was very ambivalent towards meritocratic and elite elements in school. As a result, the Swedish competitions became a form of educational modules or supplements that stood independent from Swedish schools, but still functioned as elitist environments and were supported and legitimized by authorities such as the National Board of Education and the Ministry of Education. Although the competitive element itself was sometimes questioned under the influence of a more radical societal debate of the 1970s, their existence was never seriously threatened.
New research questions
New questions that have arisen have primarily been linked to research on the Cold War. One such question has dealt with how the competitions and more specifically science education can be seen against the background of cultural diplomacy or educational internationalisms during the period. Another question has concerned how it has been possible to consider the import of the events in light of the cultural history of the Cold War in Sweden.
Dissemination of results and collaboration
The results have been disseminated in three peer-reviewed publications, published 2020–2024. A fourth article has been submitted to a scientific journal and is under peer review. Besides research articles I have also published a popular science article in an online-journal. Within the framework of the project, two book reviews have also been written in connection with one of the overall prerequisites for the school competitions, namely the position of school science in the 20th century, and the ambition to create an early interest in technology among school children.
The project's results have been continuously presented at conferences and symposia. In 2019 I participated in ISCHE 41 (International Standing Conference in History of Education) held in Porto. In the same year, I also presented the project at the Elites and Education symposium at IPD, Stockholm University. During the spring of 2021, I participated in two digital conferences, the European Social Science History Conference (ESSHC), and the symposium "Internationalism(s) and Education during the Cold War. Actors, Competitions, Circulation" organized by the University of Lausanne.
During the course of the project, I collaborated with foreign networks on two occasions. The first involved participation in the aforementioned symposium at the University of Lausanne, which later resulted in participation in the volume Educational Internationalism in the Cold War: Plural Visions, Global Experiences (Routledge, 2024). The second network has resulted in an initiative for a research meeting on youth competitions in the 20th century, which is planned to be organized in 2025 together with colleagues in Germany and Switzerland.
The overall aim of the project was to, from perspectives within history of education and history of science, depict and analyse scientific competitions for high school students in Sweden and abroad over a period of just over thirty years (1958—1989). The first of the two forms of competition was Unga forskare, which started in 1963 and was modeled after the American concept National Science Fair. The second was the so-called Science Olympiads in physics and chemistry (Skolornas fysiktäving and Kemiolympiaden) which were introduced in Sweden in 1974-1976 and developed after competitions in communist Eastern Europe, the International Physics Olympiad and the International Chemistry Olympiad respectively.
The analytical work within the project was intended to focus on the role of these competitions as social practices and processes of elite fostering – processes that took place in the tension between democratic and meritocratic ideals of schooling, between secondary science education and the academic world, and between the different ideological contexts of the time period.
The aim was divided into three sub-levels with specific objectives and questions. The first level was conceptually oriented with the specific goal of analysing the motives and ideas that gave rise to the contests. How were practices of elite fostering in science made possible through assumptions about the social importance of science and of meritocracy as the basis for the post-war educational system? The second level was practice-oriented and focused on student participation in the events. The specific goal was to understand in what concrete ways the competitions came to function as elitist practices. With what epistemic, material and symbolic attributes were the participants nurtured to develop self-images of being chosen? A third level has been system-oriented and aimed at the institutional nature of the competitions. The specific aim was to understand the arrangements as elite practices against the background of their respective positions in the different post-war educational systems. Is it possible to identify any differences in the design of the competitions between Sweden and other countries? If so, can such differences be understood in relation to the tension between meritocratic and democratic ideals in the post-war period?
Implementation and development
The project was intended to be carried out in two parts. A first part would study the Swedish competitions and a second part would follow the winners of the Swedish competitions in their participation on international arenas. The project's development gradually meant that it broadened its claims regarding the international dimensions. The application stated that it was "the Swedish students' participation in the competitions that is to be studied. In the national context, this is of course not a problem. In the material relating to the international arenas, travel reports from Swedish students and their accompanying teachers form a natural demarcation. In addition to this, the international material will be used to understand the different environments in which the Swedish students stayed - programs, ceremonies, speeches, photographs and other activities are things that may come into question." This objective was later expanded to also use a type of material that was available concerning participating students from other countries. In this way, the results have been made more relevant for an international readership. This had consequences to the extent that the purpose and research questions remained, but now also included more participating individuals. The Swedish examples have still formed an important part of the project, but not the only one.
The project has also expanded empirically by adding the event Skolornas matematiktävling alongside the other two competitions. Skolornas matematiktävling was introduced in Sweden in 1961.
During the course of the project, the concept of cultural or educational internationalisms has been added to the analytical focus. The term seeks to include ideas, movements or institutions that strove to reformulate relations between states through transnational exchanges or collaborations. For the project, this has meant that the two types of competitions were regarded as expressions of competing internationalisms during the Cold War.
Regarding the implementation of the project, the collection of materials has been affected by the restrictions that followed the spread of covid-19. I managed to follow the plan to the extent that I visited Unesco's archives in the summer of 2019. However, I have not been able to visit the Society for Science & the Public, the Smithsonian Institute, Washington or the International Information Center of the International Chemistry Olympiad, Bratislava. However, the development of digitization has made it possible to use material that I previously considered inaccessible. These types of material include, for example, blogs, magazines, books and newspapers in Polish, Russian and Hungarian.
Results and conclusions
The main findings are firstly that international science competitions for high school students between the years of the study were part of rival internationalisms that the Soviet Union and the United States developed and spread during the Cold War. More specifically, the competitions are considered as part of how infrastructures for secondary school science – and even more precisely activities outside of regular teaching – were incorporated into the cultural and scientific conflict that took place between the two ideological systems during the period. A distinguishing feature of the arrangements was that they - in each direction - developed into platforms for an early elite formation in science. Both competitions were highly selective and nurtured participants at the international events with messages that targeted their identities; the students were in a position where they were expected to represent their own country and satisfy the need for national prestige, but also found themselves in a position where they were encouraged to develop more transnational self-images of a global scientific youth elite that seemed to exceed national borders and ideological systems.
Secondly, the fact that Sweden was among the first countries to participate in both forms of competition has – within the project – been understood as a result of the nation's endeavour to secure good conditions for the advancement of domestic research, industrial production and economic growth, but also as a result of the Swedish self-perception of being a neutral state. Both of these ambitions can be understood as specific features of the social democratic welfare state during the time period, where educational and technological optimism existed side by side with an ambition to keep a distance to either political bloc.
Thridly, Swedish participation in both competitions was also adapted to domestic conditions in a way that never made them into a fully integrated element of the national educational system. The strong elite structures of the contests that existed in the USA and Eastern Europe met a Swedish educational discourse which, during the late 1960s and 1970s, was very ambivalent towards meritocratic and elite elements in school. As a result, the Swedish competitions became a form of educational modules or supplements that stood independent from Swedish schools, but still functioned as elitist environments and were supported and legitimized by authorities such as the National Board of Education and the Ministry of Education. Although the competitive element itself was sometimes questioned under the influence of a more radical societal debate of the 1970s, their existence was never seriously threatened.
New research questions
New questions that have arisen have primarily been linked to research on the Cold War. One such question has dealt with how the competitions and more specifically science education can be seen against the background of cultural diplomacy or educational internationalisms during the period. Another question has concerned how it has been possible to consider the import of the events in light of the cultural history of the Cold War in Sweden.
Dissemination of results and collaboration
The results have been disseminated in three peer-reviewed publications, published 2020–2024. A fourth article has been submitted to a scientific journal and is under peer review. Besides research articles I have also published a popular science article in an online-journal. Within the framework of the project, two book reviews have also been written in connection with one of the overall prerequisites for the school competitions, namely the position of school science in the 20th century, and the ambition to create an early interest in technology among school children.
The project's results have been continuously presented at conferences and symposia. In 2019 I participated in ISCHE 41 (International Standing Conference in History of Education) held in Porto. In the same year, I also presented the project at the Elites and Education symposium at IPD, Stockholm University. During the spring of 2021, I participated in two digital conferences, the European Social Science History Conference (ESSHC), and the symposium "Internationalism(s) and Education during the Cold War. Actors, Competitions, Circulation" organized by the University of Lausanne.
During the course of the project, I collaborated with foreign networks on two occasions. The first involved participation in the aforementioned symposium at the University of Lausanne, which later resulted in participation in the volume Educational Internationalism in the Cold War: Plural Visions, Global Experiences (Routledge, 2024). The second network has resulted in an initiative for a research meeting on youth competitions in the 20th century, which is planned to be organized in 2025 together with colleagues in Germany and Switzerland.