The Dream of an Equal Society: nostalgia or living vision?
Social equality has been a central value in Swedish politics for most of the 20th century. One of the main resources for creating a more equal society was the modern welfare state that was built up in the post-war period. Since the early 1990s, however, the image of an egalitarian Sweden has changed. Although incomes are still more evenly distributed than in most other countries, disparities have increased. Over the same period, social security systems have become less redistributive of income, health gaps between different population groups have grown and the gap between high- and low-performing children in schools has widened.
Details
- Period: 2021-01-01 – 2023-12-31
- Budget: 4,247,000 SEK
- Funder: Swedish Research Council
Description
Over the same period as inequalities in Sweden have increased, policy goals for social equality also seem to have become more ambiguous. Instead of "equality", political representatives have shifted to talking about "equivalence", "equal opportunities" or "reduced disparities". At the same time, equality as a value has faced competition from other values, such as diversity, freedom of choice, and individual autonomy. This raises the question of whether equality is still a living political vision in Swedish politics and what meaning is attached to the concept. The aim of this project is to investigate how the pursuit of social equality has been expressed by policymakers in different welfare areas in the post-war period and how (if) these goals have been reformulated after 1980.
Social equality is one of the most central values in our modern Swedish society, says principal investigator Paula Blomqvist. In recent decades, we have seen a development that seems to be undermining equality in the welfare sector, which makes it particularly important to study whether this is still a political goal and, if so, how it is formulated in relation to other goals.
Samarbetsparter
Ta bort denna layout + textmodul om stycket inte behövs.