Description
Book SynopsisSweden is well known for the success of its welfare state. Many believe that success was made possible in part by the country''s ethnic homogeneity and that the increased diversity of Sweden's population is putting its welfare state at risk. Few, however, have suggested convincing mechanisms for explaining the precise relationship between relative ethnic homogeneity/heterogeneity and the welfare state. In this book Carly Elizabeth Schall acknowledges the important role of ethnic homogeneity in Sweden's thriving welfare state, but she argues that it mattered primarily because political elitesespecially social democratsmade it matter.Schall shows that diversity and the welfare state are related but that diversity does not undermine the welfare state in a straightforward way. Tracing the development of the Swedish welfare state from the late 1920s until the present day, she focuses on five historical periods of crisis. She argues that the story of Swedish national identity is a story o
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In The Rise and Fall of the Miraculous Welfare Machine, Carly Schall examines the cultural conditions that facilitated the rise and fall of the welfare state in Sweden. In the process, she provides the readers with a nuanced understanding of the complex relationship that ties together welfare state, race/ethnicity, immigration, and nation—one that goes well beyond the specific case of Sweden and allows for potential comparisons with other countries.
-- Francesca Degiuli, Fairleigh Dickinson University * American Journal of Sociology *
Table of ContentsIntroduction PART I. HOMOGENEITY IN THE PEOPLE'S HOME
Chapter 1. 1928–1932: Ethnic Nation and Social Democratic Consolidation
Chapter 2. 1945–1950: Making the "People’s Home" Interlude 1. A Swedish Welfare State, a Welfare State for Swedes PART II. HETEROGENEITY IN THE PEOPLE’S HOME
Chapter 3. 1968–1975: Security, Equality, and Choice: Expanding the People’s Home
Chapter 4. 1991–1995: People’s Home No Longer? The Breakdown of the Miraculous Welfare Machine Interlude 2. Is There Room for Difference in Social Democracy? Chapter 5. The End of Social Democracy Hegemony Conclusions: Who Belongs in the Swedish People’s Home?
