Solidarity and Care in Sweden

Abstract

For many decades, the Swedish welfare system has served as the archetype of the modern, comprehensive welfare state, characterised by such features as universality, high taxation, income redistribution and an all-encompassing structure. Its epithet ‘solidaristic’ welfare state (Baldwin, 1996, p. 35, Esping-Andersen, 1985, pp. 30–36) has implied not only the visible features named above, but also a number of indispensable and fundamental underlying values. By tradition, the growth of Swedish welfare has been legitimised by such indisputable virtues as equality, democracy and help to the needy, whether the origin of that need is a vulnerable life-phase or an unfavourable position on the labour market. Benefits are based on uniform rules and intended to cover the entire population throughout the different stages of life. Most services are public and either free of charge or heavily subsidised. The financial burden of these welfare arrangements has been distributed according to the ability to pay, through a system of progressive income taxation and employers fees, and popular support for the model has mostly been very strong. Decentralisation has served to further increase legitimacy, by moving vital parts of the political decision-making to the local government level and thus closer to the citizenry.KeywordsPublic SectorWelfare StateInformal CareSocial AssistanceUnemployment InsuranceThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.