With Sweden traditionally hailed as a social and economic model, it is no wonder that the Swedish response to the COVID-19 pandemic raised a lot of questions – and eyebrows – around the world. This short book explores Sweden’s unique response to the global pandemic and the strong wave of controversies it triggered.
It helps to makes sense of the response by defining ‘a Swedish model’ that incorporates the country’s value system, underpinning its politics and administration in relation to, among other things, welfare, democracy, civil liberties and respect for expertise. The book also acts as a case study for understanding the moral and normative ways in which different national approaches to the pandemic have been compared.
135 Sweden FIVE Sweden Farrah’s story Farrah and her family moved to Sweden from Iran in 1998 when she was only two years old. As asylum seekers they arrived with very little money or personal belongings. They now live in a city in the west of Sweden and, although the majority population is Swedish, a fifth of the population in the city were born outside Sweden. Farrah’s father, Adel, works as a mechanic, earning around SEK180,000 (€19,509) per annum, below the national average of SEK191,000 (€20,701) per annum. Around 30% of this salary goes on taxes, but the
169 NINE Who leaves Sweden’s large housing estates? Åsa Bråmå and Roger Andersson Introduction Debate and research on large housing estates are integrated and embedded in wider discourses on the role of neighbourhoods, communities, urban change, poverty, and segregation. The problems associated with the large estates are similar to those being discussed in relation to ‘deprived neighbourhoods’ in more general terms: why they exist; how they are produced and reproduced; and what effects they might have on people growing up and living there. The issue of selective
65 Dispersal policies in Sweden FOUR Dispersal policies in Sweden Roger Andersson and Dennis Solid Introduction This chapter describes Sweden’s refugee dispersal policy and analyses its outcomes. The explicit dispersal policy, often referred to as the ‘Sweden-wide’ or ‘All-of-Sweden’ policy, began in 1985 and, in principle, is still guiding the settlement of new refugees in Sweden, despite the fact that a policy change in 1994 turned out to strongly affect its basic prerequisites. By the end of December 2000, only 137 out of 289 municipalities had made
143 EIGHT Social workers affecting social policy in Sweden Katarina H. Thorén and Tapio Salonen introduction The Swedish welfare system is known as a comprehensive and redistributive welfare state, with diverse institutions providing public support and social services. Despite the existence of a broad welfare state system, less is known of the extent to which professional social workers are active in reforming, changing, or otherwise affecting social policies in Sweden. In other words, in what way are they engaged in policy practice activities as part of
NINE Women friendly? Understanding gendered racism in Sweden Diana Mulinari Introduction This chapter offers a re-reading of the Swedish welfare state based on everyday experiences of women from the Latin American diaspora (Sawyer, 2000; Alinia, 2004) living in Sweden. Central to the chapter is to explore the specific experience of a group of migrant women at the crossroads between their transnational communities and the public policies of the Swedish welfare state. Hegemonic trends in Swedish gender studies primarily focus on the conditions of women
183 ELEVEN Social work academia and policy in Sweden Katarina H. Thorén and Pia Tham Sweden is known for its well-developed welfare state and a large public sector in which many professional social workers are working (Esping-Andersen, 1990; Nygård, 2013). Social work academia is also an established field with 17 social work programmes. Most of these programmes are in departments of social work or the equivalent at universities and university colleges. More than 630 people are employed as teachers and researchers in the social work faculties in Sweden. If
97 FIVE Housing and support in Britain and Sweden The aim of the rest of the book is to use the evaluation framework outlined in the first four chapters to examine supported housing for older people, homeless people and people with a disability in Britain and Sweden. This chapter will set the context for this by outlining the housing and support policies in the two countries. Making international comparisons of this kind can shed considerable light on the subject matter. The experience of different countries can open our eyes to new possibilities and can
Sweden is often considered one of the most gender-equal countries in the world and held up as a model to follow, but the reality is more complex. This is the first book to explode the myth of Swedish gender equality, both offering a new perspective for an international audience, and suggesting how equality might be rethought more generally.
While the authors argue that the gender-equality mantra in Sweden has led to a society with increased opportunities for some, they also assert that the dominant norm of gender equality has become nationalistic and builds upon heteronormative and racial principles. Examining the changing meanings and parameters of gender equality against the country’s social-democratic tradition and in the light of contemporary neoliberal ideologies, the book constitutes an urgent contribution to the debates about gender-equality policies and politics.
Introduction This chapter aims to illuminate a discord between the general integration discourse in Sweden, the way it is materialised in social work practice, and how young refugees view their own situation in relation to integration and resettlement. Based on a study with 11 so-called ‘unaccompanied female minors’, the chapter illuminates alternative perspectives on what challenges these girls face as they seek to integrate into a new society post transit. Integration (also the Swedish definition of the term) has been criticised for being vague and
