My major research interests are business history, from the late 18th Century to the present, and the history of modern consumer culture. I have done historical research on a broad range of topics: industry and manufacturing, knowledge, technology and expertise, retail and insurance, consumption, sales and advertising, and the media industry. My research also includes cultural history in a wide sense, and my latest work was on Sigrid Undset, the office worker who became a renowned novelist and intellectual, awarded the Nobel Price for Literature in 1928. Currently, I am writing a book on the history of the modern office over the past 200 years, to present days’ open space and online offices.
Temmet eller uhemmet. Historiske perspektiver på konsum, kultur og dannelse
Pax Forlag.
Myrvang, Christine (2003)
Slemme pikers feminisme: Konsum som opprør på 1920-tallet
Tidsskrift for ungdomsforskning, 1, s. 67- 78.
Myrvang, Christine (2002)
Tingenes uutholdelige døgnvillhet: Design og konsum i maskinalderen
Weium, Frode (red.). Volund 2002
Myrvang, Christine (2001)
West of Eden: Norwegian Industry in the Shadow of Swedish Grandeur 1914 to 1940
Byrkjeflot, Haldor; Myklebust, Sissel, Myklebust, Sissel, Myrvang, Christine, Myrvang, Christine & Sejersted, Francis (red.). The Democratic Challenge to Capitalism: Management and Democracy in the Nordic Countries
After Norway had gained fully independence from Sweden in 1905, the freedom was to be supplemented with economic independence through industrial modernisation. Rather ironically, Norway's former union partner Sweden was a constant and important reference point in this modernisation debate. The Norwegian industrial bourgeoisie admired both the thriving domestic industry and the large-scale industrialisation of its neighbour and hoped to follow in the footsteps of Swedish grandeur. This chapter discusses three modernisation strategies of the Norwegian heads of industry in the period from The Great War to the Second World War: economic nationalism, rationalisation and the alliance between industry, science and the government in the encounter with technocracy. The first two strategies implied mobilisation from the bottom up, via the consumers and the individual industrial enterprises, as an alternative to government intervention by means of measures such as protectionism and forced trustification. However, the third strategy approached the government in that it attempted to revitalise a collaboration that had arisen under the regulatory regime during the First World War. The two strategies on the micro level met a certain degree of opposition. It was not possible to change consumption overnight, not at least due to the resistance from the internationally oriented commercial bourgeoisie. Connected to the standardisation of production and rationalisation of Norwegian businesses, there were problems with scepticism in the many small companies, combined with the lack of institutions and experts which had been of such a great importance in Sweden. The third strategy was also controversial, since it challenged the liberal paradigm. It was never actually implemented until the social-democratic era after the Second World War.
Myklebust, Sissel & Myrvang, Christine (2001)
Varen som kulturformer og maktbærer
Holm, Erling Dokk & Meyer, Siri (red.). Varene tar makten
Myrvang, Christine (1999)
From Socialism to Productivism. The Debate on Socialisation and Rationalisation in the Norwegian Labour Movement 1918-1953
Tiratsoo, Nick (red.). The Labour Parties and Business in Britain and Norway 1918-1999
Hamran, Olav & Myrvang, Christine (1998)
Fiin gammel. Vinmonopolet 75 år
Tano-Aschehoug.
Myrvang, Christine (1997)
Falkeblikk og styringsteknikk
Amdam, Rolv Petter; Gjestland, Dag & Hompland, Andreas (red.). ÅrdAl - verket og bygda 1947-1997
Myrvang, Christine (1997)
Industrial Democracy or Technocracy? Norwegian Socialists and the Theory of Socialisation in the Inter-War Years
Myklebust, Sissel (red.). Technology and Democracy: Obstacles to Democratization - Productivism and Technocracy
Myrvang, Christine (1996)
Alfred Madsen, Amerika og sosialiseringens utopi
Bergh, Trond (red.). Arbeiderhistorie 1996. Årbok for Arbeiderbevegelsens arkiv og bibliotek
Myrvang, Christine (2019)
Studio 2: Dagbladet 150 år.
NRK P2 [Radio]
Myrvang, Christine (2017)
Historien som maskulint basketak
Dagens næringsliv [Kronikk]
Myrvang, Christine (2017)
Næringslivshistoriens håndverkere
Morgenbladet [Kronikk]
Myrvang, Christine (2014)
Det kvinner vil ha?
KILDEN - nettbasert fagmagasin om kjønnsforskning [Internett]
Myrvang, Christine (2014)
Såpas historie
"Frokostradio" NRK P1+ [Radio]
Myrvang, Christine & Sogner, Knut (2014)
En god jubileumsstory
Dagens næringsliv [Kronikk]
Myrvang, Christine (2010)
Terningtyveriet
Klassekampen [Kronikk]
Myrvang, Christine (2008)
Intervju i programmet "I kveld" på NRK2 om Husmorfilmene på 1950- og 60-tallet som reklame
NRK2 [TV]
Myrvang, Christine (2006)
Om reklamepsykologiens historie. Intervju i Radioselskapet, NRK P2
The Democratic Challenge to Capitalism: Management and Democracy in the Nordic Countries
[Non-fiction book]. Fagbokforlaget.
The book examines how industrial leaders met the challenge from the democratic movements and how this affected management models in the Nordic region. The industrial leaders had to develop new kinds of strategies, channels of influence and management styles. The book discusses in a historical perspective how each country developed distinct kinds of capitalis models.
Myrvang, Christine (2000)
Teknikker i transformasjon. Ledelse, organisasjon og teknologi ved Årdal Verk og ÅSV fra 1940- til 1970-åra
[Scientific book]. Unipub forlag.
Hamran, Olav; Myrvang, Christine & Teien, Thor Richard (1997)
Vinmonopolet 1922-1997. Nedslag i 75 års historie
[Report]. Vinmonopolet.
Academic Degrees
Year
Academic Department
Degree
2005
University of Oslo
Ph.D Dr. Philos.
1995
University of Oslo
Master Cand. Philol.
1991
University of Oslo
Bachelor
Work Experience
Year
Employer
Job Title
2009 - Present
BI Norwegian Business School
Senior Researcher, Centre for Business History
1996 - 2008
University of Oslo, Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture