Rickard Ulmestig

Changing social risks and social policy responses in the Nordic welfare states

The Nordic welfare states have found themselves in the firing line of post-industrial developments, resulting in fundamental changes in societal institutions at all levels. In particular, changes in the labour market and family, reinforced by processes of migration and international market integration, have presented the welfare states with new social needs to attend to. This book critically explores responses to changing social risks across areas such as structural unemployment, entrepreneurship, immigration, single parenthood, education and health. It explores critical changes in the structure of the Nordic welfare states and the social policy strategies for alleviating social risks. While the Nordic countries are shining in most international comparisons, such changes and their wider implications have often been overlooked in the literature. The book raises the question whether certain risks are even being evoked actively through new social policies instating incentive structures concomitant with policy goals in order to encourage certain behaviour among citizens.

Activation Policies in Sweden: “Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Something Blue”

Activation Policies in Sweden: : “Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Something Blue”

Social rights in the shadow of poor relief – social assistance in the universal Swedish welfare state

Abstract The idea of a European social citizenship is being developed by the EU to provide a minimum safety net. Questions about social citizenship are of fundamental importance in people’s everyday lives. Social assistance is a central dimension when studying social citizenship. Before discussing in terms of a European social citizenship, we should determine whether we have a social citizenship at the national level. We therefore analyse the Swedish welfare state, one of the most mature welfare states in the EU. We conclude that the social right to social assistance is not part of modern citizenship, nor does it follow the formal principles of legal citizenship rights. The law presupposes a considerable amount of discretionary power at the local level when it comes to identifying the deserving poor; something that goes against the definition of a legal citizenship right. The right to social assistance is still a reproduction of the old poor-relief logic.

Financial consequences of leaving violent men – women survivors of domestic violence and the social assistance system in Sweden

ABSTRACT Being self-sufficient, having an economy of your own, does not only safeguard basic resources such as food and shelter but is also a prerequisite for ensuring full participation in society. Research shows that women subjected to domestic violence often suffer from economic abuse and experience economic hardship within and after their relationships. Without economic support it is harder for abused women to break up and the risk of returning to a violent partner increases. The aim of the article is to understand how survivors of domestic violence experience financial vulnerability and what implications these experiences have on social work within the social assistance system. Based on 13 in-depth interviews with women survivors, our study describes how debts and stolen money, together with difficulties on the labour market, affect their ability to have a reasonable economic standard (long) after breaking up. Several of the women describe how social workers in different ways have recognized them by giving emotional support, cognitive respect and social esteem. However, social workers have also mimicked patterns of abuse from their ex-partners.

Incapacity Benefits — Change and Continuity in the Swedish Welfare State

Sweden, as in much of the developed world, has seen a transition to a flexible and post-industrial labour market that excludes those not perceived as fully ‘able’. How the Swedish welfare state has responded to these changes is examined in this chapter, both in terms of labour market policy and social insurance policy. The political discourse surrounding the reform of social insurance in general, and of disability benefits in particular, is critically evaluated in light of empirical evidence.

Introduction: Changing Social Risks and Social Policy Responses in the Nordic Welfare States

Insuring its citizens against the misfortunes that may threaten their livelihood is the defining feature of the welfare state. The first social insurance schemes that emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were instituted to protect people in cases of work accidents, sickness, unemployment, widowhood and old age (if it occurred). By instituting such schemes, the state acknowledged that individuals were exposed to social risks conditioned by societal structures that were beyond their control (Rothstein 1994).

Discussion : The take on, new social risks in the Nordic welfare states

Amidst the deep and interrelated global crises in finance and employment, the Nordic countries might look like heaven on earth. They could be regarded as such not only by individuals who are partic ...

Fighting risks with risks: Self-employment and social protection in the Nordic welfare states

Self-employment is often presented as a solution to the important issue of inclusion into the labour market for groups that find difficulties in being employed by others. Indeed, recent years have ...