The Rise and Fall of the Miraculous Welfare Machine

Carly Elizabeth Schall

Carly Elizabeth Schall

The Rise and Fall of the Miraculous Welfare Machine

Immigration and Social Democracy in Twentieth-Century Sweden

Cornell University Press | 2016

https://doi.org/10.7591/9781501704093

Overview
Contents

About this book

Sweden 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 elites—especially social democrats—made 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 of elite-driven hegemony-building and that the linking of social democracy and national identity colored the integration of immigrants in important ways. Social democracy could have withstood the challenge posed by immigration, but the faltering of social democratic hegemony opened a door for anti-immigrant sentiment. In her deft analysis of the relationship between immigration and the welfare state in Sweden, Schall makes a compelling argument that has relevance for immigration policy in the United States and elsewhere.

Author information

SchallCarly Elizabeth:

Carly Elizabeth Schall is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis.

Reviews

Jonas Pontusson, University of Geneva, author of Inequality and Prosperity: Social Europe vs. Liberal America:

"The Rise and Fall of the Miraculous Welfare Machine explores the evolving relationship between conceptions of Swedish nationhood and the dominance of social democracy in Sweden. Carly Elizabeth Schall's fascinating and insightful account shows how the Swedish social democrats turned their reformist project into a national project and how other political forces have recently been able to turn the national question against social democracy. Her book represents an original and important contribution to the literature on Swedish social democracy."

Francesca Degiuli, Fairleigh Dickinson University:

"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."

Gregg Bucken-Knapp, University of Gothenburg, author of Defending the Swedish Model: Social Democrats, Trade Unions, and Labor Migration Policy Reform:

"Carly Elizabeth Schall provides a fascinating account of how the process of ethnic closure has been crucial to the development of the Swedish welfare state, meticulously documenting how an ethnic definition of the nation, supplemented with civil values, allowed the Swedish Social Democratic Party to successfully develop an understanding of 'Swedishness' that rested on core social democratic values. This book is an essential read for those wishing to consider how nation, nationalism, and processes of both ethnic hetero- and homogeneity have critical importance for welfare state development."

Frontmatter Free access PDF PDF	i
Contents Free access PDF PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	ix
Introduction Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	1
PART I. HOMOGENEITY IN THE PEOPLE’S HOME
Chapter 1. 1928–1932: Ethnic Nation and Social Demo cratic Consolidation Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	33
Chapter 2. 1945–1950: Making the “ People’s Home” Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	58
Interlude 1. A Swedish Welfare State, a Welfare State for Swedes Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	82
PART II. HETEROGENEITY IN THE PEOPLE’S HOME
Chapter 3. 1968–1975: Security, Equality, and Choice: Expanding the People’s Home Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	87
Chapter 4. 1991–1995: People’s Home No Longer? The Breakdown of the Miraculous Welfare Machine Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	122
Interlude 2. Is There Room for Difference in Social Democracy? Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	159
Chapter 5. The End of Social-Democratic Hegemony Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	162
Conclusions: Who Belongs in the Swedish People’s Home? Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	187
Notes Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	201
References Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	221
Index Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	237

(Deutsch)

The Rise and Fall of the Miraculous Welfare Machine

Immigration and Social Democracy in Twentieth-Century Sweden

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