Academics as the ruling elite in 19th century Norway

Abstract

'With no aristocracy and its economic bourgeoisie (Wirtschaftsbürgertum) in ruins after the Napoleonic wars, the higher civil servants (Beamten, corresponding to a Bildungsbürgertum) effectively served as the ruling class in the semi-independent democratic state of Norway, created in 1814. Its base was the university in Oslo, founded in 1811. This class dominated politics and much of civil society for decades. Although democratic (wide suffrage) and meritocratic in name, the ruling class would to a large degree intermarry in its own circles and reproduce itself. Only towards the end of the 19th century did the higher civil servants encounter opposition. This came partly from outside as other social groups - peasants, artisans, merchants, workers - would challenge them. But the ruling class was also changed from within, as social recruitment to the university gradually became wider, and as university graduates would enter other occupations than higher civil service. A long-term result has been a noticeable decline in the value of higher education.' (author's abstract)|