Swedish Welfare State Research Articles

Searching for Innovative Design: Architectural Competitions in the Silvering Swedish Welfare State

The new millennium has seen an increased interest in appropriate housing for the senior part of the Swedish population, defined as those aged 65 years and older. In 2010, the Swedish government launched a 2-year program called “Growing Old, Living Well” that targeted the living conditions of not only older people with few or some needs for homecare services, but also the smaller group of dependent and frail older persons whose everyday living depends upon regular caregiving. The program promoted architectural competitions as a tool for innovation. This article assesses the outcome of 3 architectural competitions that were carried out by 3 municipalities in accordance with the program. It concludes that existing notions about appropriate space for aging populations prevailed, since the competition briefs evolved from existing data and consequently allowed for only a low degree of innovative thinking. Hence, the relationship between architectural design and older people's age-related needs was only addressed indirectly. Further work needs to be done in the area of housing for the Swedish silvering welfare state in order for this factor to become an essential criterion for creating innovative architecture and urban design.

Europeanize for Welfare? EU Engagement among Swedish Civil Society Organizations

This article explores how and why Swedish-based civil society organizations (CSOs) in the welfare area engage with the European Union (EU). Europeanization is understood as a two-sided process in which the EU influences national actors while national actors are engaged in usage of the EU. The data collection was conducted through a systematic study of the websites of organizations that participated in the Swedish Compact, and through subsequent e-mail interviews with representatives from 56 of those same organizations. The assumption was that organizations with a privileged position vis-à-vis the Swedish government would be affected by EU influences. The results show that these Swedish CSOs indeed signalled Europeanization in terms of attention to the EU, cooperation, ‘projectification’, professionalization, and transformation of organizational identities and interests. The EU engagement was analysed in relation to organizational origin and the historical development of the Swedish welfare state, and the conclusion is that the national sociopolitical context influences the scope and strategies of EU engagement.

ALL IN IT TOGETHER? THE EFFECTS OF RECESSION ON POPULATION HEALTH AND HEALTH INEQUALITIES IN ENGLAND AND SWEDEN, 1991-2010.

This article is the first to comparatively examine the effects of two recessions on population health and health inequalities in the two historically contrasting welfare states of England and Sweden. Data from 1991-2010 on self-reported general health, age, gender, and educational status were obtained from the Health Survey for England, the Swedish Survey of Living Conditions, and the European Union Survey of Income and Living Conditions, for individuals aged over 16. Generalized linear models were used to test the effects of recessions on self-reported health and educational inequalities in health. Overall, recessions had a significant positive effect on the health of women--but not men-in both England (4%) and Sweden (7%). In England, this improvement was only enjoyed by the most educated women, with the health of less educated women declining during recession. In contrast, in Sweden, the health of all women improved significantly during recession regardless of their educational status, although the most educated benefitted the most. Relative educational inequalities in self-reported health therefore increased during recessions in both countries by 14 percent (England) and 17 percent (Sweden) but for different reasons. This study suggests that Sweden's welfare state protects the health of all during recessions.

Changes in teacher education in Sweden in the neo-liberal education age: Toward an occupation in itself or a profession for itself?

In the last two decades, the Swedish welfare state has been radically transformed in a neo-liberal direction, including extensive decentralisation and marketisation of the education sector with significant consequences for the work and professional identities of its teachers. Teacher education has also been directly included in this transformation. The present article addresses the changes that have been introduced. We are concerned that key elements of theoretical disciplinary professional knowledge may be lost in the transformation at serious cost to future teachers and teacher professionalism, and that research knowledge that would help in this respect is no longer being financed for production nor communicated as examined knowledge in teacher education in Sweden today.

Strong support for relocation to other work tasks: A cross-sectional study of attitudes to sickness insurance regulations in Sweden

Profound changes are taking place in the Swedish welfare state. The general population's attitudes are important insofar changes will be perceived as fair and effective to become implemented. The aim was to study attitudes to the strictness of the sick-leave rules, relocation to other work tasks after 3 months of sick leave and applications for new jobs after 6 months of sick leave. Eligible for this questionnaire study were 1,140 individuals aged 19 to 64 years. Their attitudes were analyzed in relation to age, gender, political ideology and health status. Health status was measured as sick-leave experiences, self-reported health and level of symptoms. Showed that 42% considered the sick-leave rules to be too strict, 60% found relocation to other work tasks to be good while 35% found that applications for new work were good. In logistic regression analyses, high sick-leave experience was associated with increased odds of finding the sick-leave rules too strict and disagreement with relocation to other work tasks or application for new jobs. In conclusion, strong support was found for relocation to other work tasks with the present employer. Earlier research on returning to work has found workplace interventions to be efficient. From a policy perspective it seems relevant to promote such interventions given the strong public opinion in their favor.

SWEDEN--RECENT CHANGES IN WELFARE STATE ARRANGEMENTS.

The Swedish welfare state, once developed to create a new society based on social equality and universal rights, has taken on a partly new direction. Extensive choice reforms have been implemented in social services and an increasing proportion of tax-funded social services, including child day care, primary and secondary schools, health care, and care of the elderly, is provided by private entrepreneurs, although funded by taxes. Private equity firms have gained considerable profits from the welfare services. The changes have taken place over a 20-year period, but at an accelerated pace in the last decade. Sweden previously had very generous sickness and unemployment insurance, in terms of both duration and benefit levels, but is falling behind in terms of generosity, as indicated by increasing levels of relative poverty among those who depend on benefits and transfers. Increasing income inequality over the past 20 years further adds to increasing the gaps between population groups. In some respects, Sweden is becoming similar to other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. The article describes some of the changes that have occurred. However, there is still widespread popular support for the publicly provided welfare state services.

The contested field of social work in a retreating welfare state: the case of Sweden

This article critically examines the consequences of the neoliberal reorganisation of the welfare state for social work in Sweden in a time of increasing poverty, marginalisation and social problems. The retreat of the welfare state from its traditional obligations has resulted in the emergence of many voluntary and private actors in the Swedish ‘care market’, driving social work to authoritative action of social control and engagement in charitable activities. Based on a review of recent events indicating that municipal social work is in crisis, it is shown that critical voices are reacting against the increasing shortcomings of the welfare state, including municipal social work practices. It is argued that the pursuit of rights-based social work is urgent and that social work should be engaged in raising critical questions influencing public debate in order to counteract the increasing neoliberal dissolution of the Swedish welfare state and social work, which has led to increasing inequalities and injustices.

Myten Och Dess Arvtagare. Historiska Och Skönlitterära Berättelser Om Folkhemmet

Abstract The paper’s aim is to indicate the mutual relations between contemporary Swedish literature and the academic and political discourse on the welfare state’s crisis. The article’s first part discusses the genesis, evolution and meaning of the term ”Swedish folkhem” as it is understood today, i.e. as a political vision underlying the Swedish welfare state which with time has become a metaphor and a myth. In its other part the presence of historical narratives on the Swedish folkhem in five autobiographically inspired novels on childhood and growing up is investigated (Jonas Gardell’s En komikers uppväxt (1992), Lena Andersson’s Var det bra så? (1999), Mikael Niemi’s Populärmusik i Vittula (2000), Torbjörn Flygt’s Underdog (2001) and Susanna Alakoski’s Svinalängorna (2006). Analysing the chosen examples, the author of the paper focuses mainly on the issue of how the narratives known from political propaganda and debate are transformed, commented and used in a literary text to construct a collective identity.

Constructing cultural Otherness within the Swedish welfare state: The cases of social workers in Sweden

The aim of the article is to analyze how social workers frame the social problems of immigrant clients in Sweden. The study is based on in-depth interviews with 20 social workers in three different Swedish municipalities. While Swedish social work often assumes a discourse of color-blindness and universalism, this study indicates that Swedish social workers not only see cultural differences but also regard these differences as central when they frame, assess, and formulate their interventions. The discourse of culturalization not only produces and reinforces the ideas of cultural hierarchy and Swedish superiority, but it also tends to obstruct non-European immigrants from equal participation in the Swedish society since they are not allowed to enjoy their full citizenship. Consequently, there is a need for social work in Sweden to rethink its culturalist framework and go beyond cultural reductionism and take into consideration other issues such as unemployment, housing conditions, poverty, social isolation, marginalization, and ethnic discrimination.

Family Migration Policies and Politics

This article aims at characterizing and explaining Swedish family migration policies from a European comparative point of view. The analysis shows that Sweden applies equally strict eligibility rules for members beyond the nuclear family as most other European countries. Moreover, Sweden introduced such stricter rules much earlier than other countries. In other respects, however, Swedish family migration policies stand out as exceptionally liberal in European comparison; few, if any, requirements are imposed on the sponsor and joining family members acquire equal rights status either immediately or 2 years after admission. To explain this situation, the article analyzes political processes behind two important family migration policy decisions in 1997 and 2010. The conclusion is that Swedish welfare state ideology and party politics importantly contribute to understanding why Sweden diverges from European trends in family migration policies.

Advertising Stories of Second Homes in the Swedish Welfare State

The aim of this article is to discuss the greatest expansion of vacation housing in Sweden for the period of 1960–1980. In focus are product advertisements related to new vacation houses for sale by producers of prefabricated wooden vacation houses. The empirical exploration is based on a content analysis of all issues of a widespread Swedish lifestyle magazine, published monthly between 1960 and 1980. A limited selection of advertisements is further analyzed from a perspective of discourse analysis. The selected advertisements are telling stories, a basic approach in advertising. As a result of the analysis a number of recurring stories can be constructed; the story of freedom of choice and of modern life, the story of multiple dwelling and of the good life, and of family unity. The stories could be stated to be closely connected to crucial values of the “people's home,” the core principle of the Swedish welfare state.

‘More time for what?’ Exploring intersecting notions of gender, work, age and leisure time among people with cognitive disabilities

This article explores intersecting notions of leisure among middle‐aged people with intellectual disabilities in the setting of the Swedish welfare state. The participants are recipients of long‐term disability services and have experienced the changing ideological frameworks of the welfare effort, which has recently focused on normalisation, inclusion and participation. Structured activities are arranged by disability services in order to normalise living conditions and provide recreation for disabled people. However, the range of activities is constrained by financial resources, by notions of gender and age and by an institutionalised emphasis on the work ethic – leading to constructions of leisure partly as ‘time beside’ where ‘free time’ activities should not interfere with the duties of the working week. The participants' limited resources and their lack of a strong voice limit their ability to demand their legal rights and leave many of them with ‘too much time with too little to do’.Key Practitioner Message: ● A common idea of leisure is the relationship between social and physical activities, well‐being and health; ● People with disabilities, regardless of age, engage in fewer leisure activities than the general population due to a lack of resources; ● Even with legal rights, the lack of a strong voice as well as institutional constraints limit their leisure opportunities.

Intergenerational income mobility in Gothenburg, Sweden, 1925–1958, before the rise of the welfare state

This paper investigates intergenerational mobility at the household level by using tax data for the city of Gothenburg, Sweden for two periods, 1925–1947 and 1936–1958, before the rise of the welfare state. Young households (selected persons under 18) are followed and income mobility (defined as changes in household disposable equivalent income) is followed across generations. In addition, socioeconomic mobility (defined as changes in the socioeconomic status of household head) is followed across generations. These two approaches of measuring mobility will tell us to what extent sons and daughters follow in their fathers' footsteps before the rise of the welfare state in Sweden. The results indicate significant intergenerational income mobility for both periods, while the period from 1925–1947 seems to be more mobile. In addition, socioeconomic mobility increased during the last period, 1936–1958. Hence, even before the rise of the welfare state, Sweden had high intergenerational income mobility.

Trabajo Social en Suecia, tendencias generales y el caso particular de los niños migrantes

La reestructuración del Estado de bienestar sueco y el aumento de las desigualdades son transformaciones sociales ocurridas durante los tres últimos decenios. Suecia ha perdido su posición de liderazgo en los rankings internacionales sobre igualdad social. Nuevas formas de entender y abordar los problemas sociales permiten la privatización de los servicios sociales, antes públicos. Además, cambios demográficos como el aumento de la movilidad internacional y la complejidad en la dinámica de los problemas sociales exigen nuevas respuestas de los servicios sociales, lo que tiene claras implicaciones para el Trabajo Social, que surgió como una actividad delimitada territorialmente por las fronteras nacionales. El caso de los niños migrantes es un ejemplo, ya que expresa claramente esas nuevas problemáticas y muestra diversas y contradictorias respuestas desde los servicios de protección de la infancia. En este artículo discutimos las respuestas que dan los trabajadores sociales en la atención de casos y las respuestas institucionalizadas desde los hogares de acogida. En esos lugares detectamos el fracaso de las formas institucionalizadas de protección de la infancia. En la atención de casos individuales vemos surgir respuestas que, dentro de los marcos de la legalidad, cuestionan una tradición de lealtad y subordinación a la autoridad en la historia del Trabajo Social en Suecia. Respuestas aparte, vemos también surgir organizaciones que cuestionan políticas represivas e intentan trabajar desde una perspectiva que toma en cuenta las problemáticas que afectan a los niños migrantes.

When the State Stepped into the Arena: The Swedish Welfare State, Refugees and Immigrants 1930s–50s

Immediately after the Second World War, the Swedish Social Democratic government launched a number of far-reaching social and economic programmes which led to the development of a modern welfare state. At the same time that social policy was increasingly focused towards developing a welfare system, its foreign policy developed in a new direction. The Swedish wartime refugee policy has been characterized as restrictive. But by the time the war had ended, there were approximately 185,000 refugees in Sweden. Most of those refugees went ‘home’ in 1945 but some of them stayed and in the early postwar years, foreigners were also ‘imported’ as workers as a result of labour shortages. One could say that Sweden's development into a country of immigration was contemporaneous with its development into a welfare state.

Bamse and the Legitimacy of the State

This article aims to explore inherent power dimensions in the Swedish children’s comic book Bamse. While previous scholars have noted the ideological aspects of the series, (and placed these in a context of the Swedish welfare state), this article offers an analysis of the power structures in the narratives from an institutional perspective. I argue that the functions of the main characters in their hometown correspond to important functions of the Swedish welfare state.Furthermore, I argue that the functions of the main characters as they are represented in their different journeys to remote places correspond to functions of a colonial state. While also stressing the differences between these two contexts in this article, I suggest that as an allegory, the characters are relationally organised through shared underlying ideals; these being an understanding that it is possible to identify general human needs from an ideological standpoint, as well as a practice of solving certain problems through technocratic means.

Privatising The Swedish Welfare State

AbstractThe introduction of private competition and choice in the Swedish welfare sector has attracted widespread attention in recent years. This paper sets out the factors that helped make this development possible, and explains why the influence of the organisational theory of New Public Management (NPM) has ensured that while market economy elements have increased in welfare services, the scope of the state and the public sector has continued to grow. The result is the emergence of welfare quasi‐markets, which are increasingly subject to input‐related regulation and control.

Swedish Employers and Trade Unions, Labor Migration and the Welfare State—Perspectives on Swedish Labor Migration Policy Debates during the 1960s and the 2000s

This article uses a political economy approach and explores the nexus between labor migration and the welfare state and how its specificities have been viewed and presented by organized interests of employers and trade unions in Swedish labor migration policy debates during the 1960s and the 2000s. The analysis demonstrates that the Swedish Employers’ Confederation (SAF) and its organizational successor the Swedish Confederation of Enterprise (SN) have preferred a market-liberal labor migration policy. Over time, a liberal immigration policy has been viewed by employers as an important policy solution to extend levels of economic growth, increase firm competitiveness, and maintain funding for generous welfare state services. However, since the 1960s the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO) has preferred a state-coordinated and regulated labor migration policy. In LO’s perspective, a regulated immigration policy is a fundamental precondition for guaranteeing workers’ rights, and for minimizing potential negative effects for the functioning of the Swedish labor market model and for a prosperous Swedish welfare state.

Consensus, Conflict, or Compromise? Church-State Relations in the Swedish "People's Home" During the 1920s and 1930s

What does religion have to do with the Swedish welfare state? “Nothing” has been the established view among social scientists. “Everything” has been the response by some scholars in recent years. Social scientists maintain that the Swedish welfare state is, in essence, a Social Democratic welfare state, its comprehensive and generous welfare provision mirroring the principles and politics of Social Democracy, which was long the dominant political force in modern Sweden.1 If concerned with religion at all, researchers have pointed to the absence of religious cleavages in Swedish party politics and thus their irrelevance for welfare state development.2 According to this account, core features of Swedish welfare—universalism, an emphasis on equality and public social service provision—reflect the interests and redistributive aims of the labor movement and the Social Democratic Party's ability to forge class alliances.3 In the past, historians and historically oriented social scientists have qualified the “Social Democratic thesis,” pointing to a series of historic and cultural conditions for the success of this welfare state model, such as the strong ethnic, cultural, and religious homogeneity of the Swedish population.4 Recently, however, this argument has been taken even further.

Hidden by Civil Society and Religion? Diaconal Institutions as Welfare Providers in the Growing Swedish Welfare State

Hidden by Civil Society and Religion? : Diaconal Institutions as Welfare Providers in the Growing Swedish Welfare State