Sweden: Towards a 21st Century Post-Modern People’s Home?

Already in the mid 1930s Sweden was presented, in particular to North Americans but also in other parts of the Western world, as a “middle way》 between unbridled capitalism and totalitarian socialism. During the depression of the 1930s, to the proponents of a New Deal in the United States, Sweden and the political-administrative solutions adopted at that time in this country, fitted into their image of a better and more just society. In terms of democracy and welfare — thus, in terms of civil, political and social rights — Sweden became an example for other countries. At a time when most advanced countries were threatened by the prospects of authoritarian rule, the ethics of the social policies discussed and partly also adopted in this remote Northern European country received considerable global attention. However, it was not until the 1960s, after the demise of the Beveridge model in its native country, the UK, that the flower of the Far North fully blossomed. This institutional or universal welfare model has later also been dubbed a Social Democratic model of social policy. Here, it is important to emphasise that this moral approach to social policy had broad popular support from most sectors of society.