Living Condtions and Education

The first large-scale research on living cinditions in Norway was conducted in 1973/74 by a group of social researchers led by sociology professor Gundmund Hernes at the University of Bergen. The research project was initiated and sponsored by the Norwegian government. The study of living conditions was the first comprehensive study of living condtions in Norway focusing on how the conditions of childrens upbringing affected their education,which in its turn affected other social resources and thus the income and living conditions of people. Gudmund Hernes (1941- ) had studied under James Coleman at John Hopkins University and was heavily influenced by the latter. Hernes, who later on also led the investigation on power and democracy in Norway, became a great entrepeneur of clinical sociology in the country. The study on living conditions became the first of a number of large-scale, government sponsored research project, based on matematical models, large sets of data and an economic approach to sociology.