ABSTRACT
This chapter sets out to explore growth critique as public knowledge following the publication of The Affluent Society in Scandinavia. It contributes to the historiography of Scandinavian growth critique by examining the circulation of knowledge concerning a specific economic and social issue by addressing the concern for increasing affluence during the years preceding the breakthrough of environmentalism. The chapter also explores transnational points of convergence and interaction in Scandinavia. The Affluent Society was published at a moment in American history when consumerism was critically re-examined, and John Kenneth Galbraith offered one of the most influential social commentaries on the consumer society. Perhaps most notably, social democratic journalist and writer Torolf Elster had sought to incorporate Galbraithian knowledge in his 1961 publication Den store utfordringen. The chapter also highlights actors such as Torolf Elster and Kurt Samuelsson, who actively contributed to the circulation of Galbraithian knowledge across these national borders. The basic Galbraithian observation of increasing affluence circulated more subtly.
