Who Are We Now Then? The Swedish Welfare State in Political Memory and Identity
Abstract
In the late 1980s and early 1990s the Swedish welfare state underwent a crisis which led to a transformation of society that has continued up until today. The main node of this has been an adjustment to the global ideological trend of privatization and individualism with a down-sized public sector ruled by market logic. Parallel with this Sweden has also changed from being relatively mono- cultural to becoming a more multicultural nation. Throughout these processes one constant has been how the memory of the traditional Swedish welfare state has been used and fought over by different political parties. This article deals with the struggle to appropriate this memory. The Social Democrats, in power for most of the twentieth century, are seen as the architects of the Folkhem (“The Home of the People”). But it was also the Social Democrats who – under pressure from global economy – initiated the neoliberal transformation through a series of decisions in the 1980s. Rhetorically they have treated this in two ways: one is through arguing that nothing really changed and one is through pointing out how much has changed but without acknowledging their own part in it. The ruling right-wing party The Moderates has done so through changing their rhetoric from criticizing the Social Democratic welfare state to now being the only ones representing its core values and the only ones capable of adapting them to a new situation. Furthermore, the Folkhem-metaphor has also been central for the xenophobic far-right (Sweden Democrats), claiming that the demise of the welfare state is the result of excessive immigration.References
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[15] Svenska Dagbladet 2010-12-20, ”Reinfeldt: Terrordåd i folkhemmet”, [”Reinfeldt: Terror Act in the Folkhem”. [Online]. Available: http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/reinfeldt-terrordåd-i-folkhemmet_5822175.svd
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[18] Sverigedemokraterna, Principprogram, [Principal Program], Stockholm, Sweden: Sverigedemokraterna, 2011.
[2] P-A. Hansson, “Folkhemstalet. Tal vid andra kammarens remissdebatt, onsdagen den 18 januari 1928”, [”The Folkhem-Speech. Speech at the Referral Debate of the Second Chamber, Wednesday 18 January 1928”], Fronesis, no. 34, pp. 57–61, Sep. 2010.
[3] V. Bergström, Socialdemokratin i regeringsställning. Program och ekonomisk politik 1920–1988, [Social Democracy in office. Programs and Economic Policy 1920–1988], Stockholm, Swe-den: FIEF, 1988.
[4] B. Stråth, Mellan två fonder. LO och den svenska modellen, [Between Two Funds. The National Union and The Swedish Model], Stockholm, Sweden: Atlas 1998.
[5] G. Broberg and M. Tydén, Oönskade i folkhemmet., Rashygien och sterilisering i Sverige, [Unwanted in the Folkhem.Racial Hygiene and Sterilization in Sweden], Stockholm, Sweden: Gidlund 1991.
[6] H. Dahlqvist, “Folkhemsbegreppet. Rudolf Kjellén vs Per-Albin Hansson”, (“The Concept of Folkhem. Rudolf Kjellén vs Per-Albin Hansson”), Historisk Tidskrift, no. 3, pp. 445–465, 2002.
[7] M. Berg and F. Sunnemark, Historiens riktning och livets gång. Erfarenheter och förståelser av systemskiftet i svensk politik, [Direction of History and of Life. Experiences and Understand-ings of the System Change in Swedish Policy], Stockholm, Swe-den: Carlsson, 2006.
[8] C. Lundh, Invandringen till Sverige, [The Immigration to Sweden], Stockholm, Sweden: SNS, 2005.
[9] B. Hettne, S. Sörlin and U. Östergård, Den globala nationalismen. Nationalstatens historia och framtid, [The Global Nationalism. The History and Future of the National State], Stockholm, Sweden: SNS, 1998.
[10] B. Elmbrandt, Så föll den svenska modellen, [The Fall of the Swedish Model], Stockholm: T. Fischer & Co., 1998.
[11] Socialdemokraterna, Ett program för förändring, [A Program for Change], Stockholm, Sweden: Socialdemokraterna, 2013.
[12] I. Carlsson. Så tänkte jag. Politik & dramatik, [The Way I Thought. Politics & Drama], Stockholm, Sweden: Hjalmarsson & Högberg, 2003.
[13] T. Nilsson, Mellan arv och utopi. Moderata vägval under hundra år, 1904–2004, [Between Heritage and Utopia. Moderate Choices During Hundred Years, 1904–2004], Stockholm, Sweden: Santérus, 2004.
[14] F. Reinfeldt, Föregångslandet Sverige, [Sweden the Model Country], Stockholm, Sweden: Moderaterna, 2009.
[15] Svenska Dagbladet 2010-12-20, ”Reinfeldt: Terrordåd i folkhemmet”, [”Reinfeldt: Terror Act in the Folkhem”. [Online]. Available: http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/reinfeldt-terrordåd-i-folkhemmet_5822175.svd
[16] M. Edman & D. Poohl, Ut ur skuggan. En kritisk granskning av Sverigedemokraterna, [Out of the Shadows. A Critical Exami-nation of the Sweden Democrats], Stockholm, Sweden: Natur & Kultur, 2010.
[17] S. Žižek, The Sublime Object of Ideology, London: Verso, 1989.
[18] Sverigedemokraterna, Principprogram, [Principal Program], Stockholm, Sweden: Sverigedemokraterna, 2011.
How to Cite
SUNNEMARK, Fredrik.
Who Are We Now Then? The Swedish Welfare State in Political Memory and Identity.
Култура/Culture, [S.l.], n. 5, p. 7-16, mar. 2014.
ISSN 1857-7725.
Available at: <http://journals.cultcenter.net/index.php/culture/article/view/58>. Date accessed: 18 may 2024.
Section
English Articles
Keywords
Welfare state, cultural memory, political memory, political rhetoric, Swedish political history
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