ABSTRACT
Maria Ågren Around 1900, mass emigration to America caused serious worry among state representatives in Sweden. It was deemed necessary to devise measures to counteract imminent depopulation and in this context, social scientists were given the task of analysing the causes of emigration.1 Nils Wohlin was one of them, and he saw the growth of individualism and self-interest among the young as the root of the evil. Previously, Wohlin argued, younger siblings had accepted the fact that their parental farm could not be subdivided among all children. Loyally, they had stayed on at the farm as servants and farm-hands, giving up all aspirations for a family of their own. Now, anyone who could not hope to have a farm of their own would leave the country and, consequently, shirk all responsibilities, including those for the elderly.2
