“A New Type of Aristocracy”: Envisioning Educational Divides in the Swedish Conservative Party during the Birth of the Post-Industrial Society, ca. 1965–1972

In the 1960s, people across the West started imagining that theywere in a societal transition. Crucially, in these future-orienteddiscussions, social class was often transformed into educationalattainment as the main dividing line. These future studies garneredattention across the political spectrum, including the SwedishConservative Party. This article aims to investigate theConservative Party’s considerations on the societal and future roleof education during the 1960s and 1970s. I show how theConservative Party was one of the first proponents in articulatingvisions of the post-industrial society in Sweden. It saw the societalchanges it brought about as its chance to realign the electorate andthe political landscape in its favour. The educated voter was constructedby the Conservative Party as a new leading class ina society centred around education. The article contributes to thehistory of educational ideas of the 1960s and 1970s, educationalclassifications, futurology and post-industrial ideas.