Small-scale Welfare on a Large Scale : Social Cohesion and the Politics of Swedish Childcare

Abstract

Contemporary European life seems to require new ways for people to combine family life and career. There is a fear among European governments and the European Union, however, that such changes will alter received patterns of child rearing and may, in the long run, threaten social cohesion, integration and solidarity between generations. In current discussions how to make childcare generally available, as a social service, without posing a threat to social cohesion, the Swedish post-war experience may serve as a point of reference. This study traces and analyses the development of Swedish childcare which, in order to cater to two-career families, has changed from rudimentary and scarce to sophisticated and comprehensive.