Thesis-1997-Gould.pdf (10.37 MB)
The Swedish system under threat: studies in Swedish social policy, 1988-1996
thesis
posted on 2017-12-12, 12:58 authored by Arthur GouldSweden once enjoyed the reputation of being the modern society - successful
economically and socially, steering a 'middle way' between capitalism and socialism.
Even during the 1980s, it maintained a commitment to full employment and a high
standard of state welfare. The work presented here - published between 1988 and
1996 - describes the way in which the country has faced a series of real and perceived
threats from inside and outside its boundaries. While international competition and
globalisation have brought about major economic changes with consequences for
unemployment, public expenditure and the welfare state, there has also been a concern
about the possibility of increased drug-taking, particularly amongst young people.
The reaction to the former has been to make cuts in welfare benefits and services but
to resist the dismantling of the 'People's Home'. The reaction to the drugs issue has
been to follow an abstentionist policy - the restrictive line - with the aim of creating a
drug-free society. Both the reluctance to concede the necessity of restructuring the
welfare state and the creation of a moral panic around drugs, can be explained by a
cultural defence of values which are important to Swedish society - rationality, order
and sobriety. Section I of this submission is concerned with the development of
drug policy; section II with the decline of the welfare state.
Funding
Nuffield Foundation.
History
School
- Social Sciences
Department
- Communication, Media, Social and Policy Studies
Publisher
© Arthur GouldPublisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 2.5 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.5) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/Publication date
1997Notes
A Doctoral Thesis. Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy at Loughborough University.Language
- en