Urban Lives: A Micro-Level Approach to Economic and Demographic Change in the Twentieth Century

This chapter introduces the research presented in the volume. It starts by highlighting the importance of an individual-level perspective to understand how long-term economic and societal changes connected with industrialization and post-industrialization have affected individuals and families during the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century as these changes pertain to social class, living conditions, and socioeconomic status. The authors discuss a detailed periodization, linking the developments in Landskrona to broader economic and societal developments in Sweden and internationally. The chapter also describes the study area and the Scanian Economic-Demographic Database and discusses the core concepts, variables, and methods used in the different chapters of this volume.