Abstract
Scandinavian social democracy is increasingly upheld as an alternative that could reform capitalism. The Nordic Model produces income equality, low-conflict politics, and happy people. When half of young Americans express that they would prefer “socialism,” they generally mean to live in a society that provides for its citizens as the Nordics do. Such aspirations are complicated by how social democracy can be viewed as a secularized form of Lutheranism, the Protestant creed that the Nordic region embraced in the 16th century. Lutheran norms and values carried into the modern era and made possible social democracy's two distinguishing features: fascist corporatism and socialist redistribution. A strong state facilitates statist individualism, which empowers individuals vis-à-vis employers, parents, and spouses. The outcome could be cross-culturally salient, as it brings people closer to our species' fission-fusion baseline. Yet in the modern environment, only Nordics seem to have a cultural imaginary that makes compelling the politics that drive such high levels of both productivity and egalitarianism. The region's storytelling reflects this Lutheran past and is used to negotiate modern adaptations. A better understanding of social democracy could help prevent that demands for “socialism” motivate a turn to actual socialism.
Highlights
Henrich (2020) accounts for how modernity arose from the psychological-institutional coevolution set in motion by the Church’s dissolution of kinship societies
“The needy can go to the poor relief without humiliating themselves,” Ingeborg’s husband explains, “but walking from door to door is demeaning” (Krok, 2008, p. 31). Such an emphasis on the dignity of the individual is a core tenet of Lutheranism and social democracy; being independent of the whims of private charity is paramount
In 1877, Vladimir Solovyov, a Russian philosopher, wrote that Scandinavians had, since they were Germanic barbarians, preserved “the principle of unconditional personal freedom and the supreme value of the individual4.”. These preferences, he thought, explained why Nordics united around Lutheranism
Summary
European Languages and Transcultural Studies, The University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States. When half of young Americans express that they would prefer “socialism,” they generally mean to live in a society that provides for its citizens as the Nordics do. Such aspirations are complicated by how social democracy can be viewed as a secularized form of Lutheranism, the Protestant creed that the Nordic region embraced in the 16th century. In the modern environment, only Nordics seem to have a cultural imaginary that makes compelling the politics that drive such high levels of both productivity and egalitarianism.
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