We aim to analyze the manifestations of the industrialization process at the local and household levels in the countryside of Norrland, 1850-1910. The main focus of the study lies on entrepreneurship. The empirical analysis will cover the developments within two parishes. The main hypothesis is that the local entrepreneurs were more actively participating in the development than previously accounted for. The existing pilot studies report that the big lumber companies were rarely at the forefront of exploiting the forest resources. Instead, the trade between the landholders (peasants) is therefore equally as important as the companies' activities.

The ambition is to increase the understanding of the complex processes behind the transformation. Two of the sub-studies deal with the economic and social development in Hammerdal and Ramsele, situated in two provinces of Sweden respectively, the first one with a high share of land-owning peasants by 1900, whereas the land is extensively owned by lumber companies in the other one. The third study is concerned with the opinion-formation and politics within the parishes and in the local press; the main goal is to compare the treatment of the Norrland Question at the national with local/regional levels. The hypothesis for this sub-study is that the "Norrlands Question" is mostly an ideological project at the national level that is loosely connected with the actual part of the country covered in the debate.