This essay addresses the relation between social stratification and state formation in early modern Sweden. I argue that the belligerent politics of Swedish rulers promoted the social and political rise of a smaller group of peasant freeholders. The state preferred to bargain with the landed peasants who commanded authority over the marginalised groups in local society. The freeholders could therefore shift the heavy burden of military conscription on to crofters, farmhands and day labourers.

The concept of class has relevance for this analysis, as it draws attention to the marginalised and dispossessed. However, focusing on class might also obscure the complexity of social relations in peasant society. Conflict was not restricted to the struggle between lords and peasants, or between husbands and servants. As historians, we must recognise the specific interests of various social groups as well as the capacity of the state to promote new forms of extraction.