Sweden - Cultural and Institutional Dimensions of Developing and Reforming Social Security Systems

The paper gives a brief presentation of the cultural and institutional specificities of Sweden and how these cultural and institutional specificities impact the development of the Swedish social welfare system over periods of change, transition and strategic adjustment. The paper concludes by presenting a suggestion of a new view of the relationship between culture and social welfare systems, which questions the ability of neo-liberal ideology and political-institutional alignments to suceed if they abandon traditional cultural and institutional demands of balancing the dual social security goals of efficiency and equality

The aspect of culture in the social inclusion of ethnic minorities: evaluation of the impact of inclusion policies under the open method of co-ordination in the European Union ; assessing the cultural policies of six member states ; final report Sweden

'The position of ethnic minorities, their integration and assimilation into the society where they exist, along with ethnic majorities, has been an area of conflict, an area of discrimination, and an area of social tension. This report examines a policy of inclusion working next to a policy to fight exclusion as Sweden tries to establish a dual program including 'soft' measures within culture and 'hard' measures within the structural-economic sphere to counteract poverty and abuse as a means to promoting inclusion in a multicultural society. Sweden's National Action Plan (NAP) does not expressly refer to ethnic minorities. The goals reflect a concern with poverty, education and substance abuse. Two years after accepting a NAP in 2001, Sweden adopted the Agenda for Culture 2003-2006 (Agenda 2003) as a companion to the NAP. The Agenda 2003 emphasizes the concept of the equal value of all people and attempts to promote inclusion for all residents in Sweden premised on the shared value of equality among all citizens. Both the NAP, which focuses on the reduction of those at risk for exclusion, and Agenda 2003 with a focus on inclusion, developed strategies to reach their goals. Similar strategies and goals show that both the NAP and Agenda 2003 emphasized children, language and work. In all three areas the NAP and Agenda 2003 use strong rhetoric that supports the values of strengthening integration, improving access for participation and enlarging collective meeting places for all individuals. Both the NAP, which focuses on the reduction of those at risk for exclusion, and Agenda 2003 with a focus on inclusion, developed strategies to reach their goals. Similar strategies and goals show that both the NAP and Agenda 2003 emphasized children, language and work. In all three areas the NAP and Agenda 2003 use strong rhetoric that supports the values of strengthening integration, improving access for participation and enlarging collective meeting places for all individuals. This report discusses three main areas of life that are bridges between cultural indicators of inclusion and processes of fighting exclusion. These areas are education with an emphasis on language, media and political participation. Each area is presented in a chapter and is structured by presenting the goals within each area, the actual situation and the possibility within each area of developing measurable cultural indicators. The results discussed in the report have not been able to point to a successful integration pattern for Sweden. Yet we have been able to show that the programs designed and in place in Sweden are indeed significant and have as a goal both to move individuals and groups out of a vulnerable position and into a position with strong resources.' (author's abstract

HFMADM method based on nondimensionalization and its application in the evaluation of inclusive growth

Inclusive growth, which encompasses different aspects of life, is a growth pattern that allows all people to participate in and contribute to growth process. In this paper, a novel hesitant fuzzy multiple attribute decision making (HFMADM) approach based on the nondimensionalization of decision making attributes is presented and then applied to the evaluation of inclusive growth in China. Firstly, a novel generalized hesitant fuzzy distance measure is proposed to calculate the difference and deviation between two hesitant fuzzy elements (hfes) without adding any values into the shorter hesitant fuzzy element. Secondly, the coefficient of variation and efficacy coefficient method are extended to accommodate hesitant fuzzy environment and then used to cope with HFMADM. In the analysis process, non-dimensional treatment for hesitant fuzzy decision data is produced. Lastly, the method proposed in this paper is applied to an example of inclusive growth evaluation problem under hesitant fuzzy environment and the case study illustrates the practicality of the proposed method. Beyond that, a comparative analysis with some other approaches is also conducted to demonstrate the superiority and feasibility of the proposed method

Trouble in School: Law, Policy and the Dynamics of Everyday Life at School

Abstract/Results. The paper discusses the results of three different studies. A study of 717 ninth grade students in eight schools located in different socio-economic environments show that students have a low degree of trust in dispute settlement forms available at school. When involved in conflicts or degrading treatment at school they avoid turning to the school for help. Students give themselves a high score for following rules at school but give a much lower score to their classmates’ everyday behavior at school. Interviews with teachers and headmasters show a critical suspicion towards School Inspectorate’s ability to solve conflicts at school. An analysis of 350 cases decided by School Inspectorate/BEO show that many parents solve a worrisome situation at school by changing schools for their child. School administrators often solve a conflict by demanding a psychiatric evaluation of the child involved or by pointing to a need for more resources. School administrators in schools with many problems experience school inspections as annoying. The project has shown that there is a strong and consequent picture of an on-going process within Swedish schools of loss of legitimacy and authority within the school system. Even though the concept of rights of the student has forced itself into the everyday life of school, the increase in recourse to legal processes beyond those available at school has produced unintended consequences

Sociologförbundet har ordet : Att vara ordförande

Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv</p

Per Stjernquist Minnesord

Reflections in memory of Professor Per Stjernquist, one of the leading pioneers in the field of sociology of law

"Women, Work and Welfare - An Analysis of Social Change in Sweden!

This article focuses on processes of social change in Sweden, an advanced welfare state. it starts by pointing out the failure of contemporary welfare state theory to deal with the imbalance between the goal of equlality and the goal of efficiency in the production and distribution of both capital and social values. Three processes of social change are examined: the marginalization of women in the labor market, increased use of decommodification processes by women, and the delayed entrance of young women into the labor market. It is argued that these processes are strong indicators that gains in equality won by and for women in the advanced welfafe state may be ephemeral. Furthermore, recent research shows that women, anticipating this change, have already readjusted their role within the household to accommodate macro marginalization processes. The article concludes that within the welfare state, equality is forced to take a ack seat to processes that enhance efficiency in the basic relationship between capital and labo