Rethinking Civilisation in a European Feminist Context: History, Nature, Women in Elin Wagner's Vackarklocka (Gothenburg Studies in the History of Science & Ideas)

This is a Ph.D. dissertation. The purpose of this study is to analyze the ideas of the Swedish journalist, feminist, and literary author Elin Wagner (1882-1949), as conveyed in her book Vackarklocka (1941), in a European feminist context. This context is presented in terms of three elements. Firstly, the German sociologist/educationalist Mathilde Vaerting and her sociology of power played an important role in Wagner’s development of a theory of matriarchy. Secondly, the influence of the Austrian feminist Rosa Mayreder and her theory of masculine civilization and feminine culture are analyzed in relation to Wagner’s development of what might be called an early ecological feminism. Thirdly, the mainly unknown Women’s Organization for World Order (WOWO) is presented.