Suchergebnisse

"This article attempts to analyze the place of Nordic civil society within the broader context of the moral logic of the Nordic social contract and the dynamic interplay between individual, family, civil society and the state. It begins with an analysis of the Nordic social contract writ large, followed by a section that analyzes the peculiar character of Nordic civil society, and concludes with a section on contemporary patterns of change, bringing the chapter back to the central themes of this book." (author's abstract)

The premise of this paper is that 'civil society' is a concept that is powerful precisely because it is always normatively and ideologically loaded and never politically innocent. The paper begins by laying bare the extent to which the central notions that inform the promotion of the 'non-profit sector' as well as the critique of the (welfare) state are ideologically embedded in an Anglo-American theoretical narrative, one which links civil society to unselfish, altruistic and communitarian virtues. Using Sweden's particular historical experience as an empirical case, the paper then puts forth an alternative, 'neo-Hegelian' theory of state-civil society relations, according to which civil society is first and foremost conceived of as the arena in which individuals and groups seek to advance particular political and private interests, to satisfy needs and desires and to realize hopes and ambitions. It pictures state-civil society as a dynamic, interactive and productive process, rather than as a counterproductive zero-sum game. The paper ends by making a few additional theoretical reflections based on the analysis of the Swedish case, fleshing out this account of the neo-Hegelian theory of state-civil society relations. Adapted from the source document.

The extent to which the "Swedish model" is an intricate web of historically rooted sociocultural patterns is explored. A comparative historical analysis of the relationships between Swedish welfare policies & institutions in areas like labor market relations & family policy, on the one hand, & the Swedish work ethic, individualism, & family structure, on the other, suggests that the Swedish welfare state, which has become so firmly associated with the past fifty years of Social Democratic hegemony, was made possible by & still depends on cultural proclivities that are of ancient origins. From this perspective, the relevance & usefulness of the Swedish experience for reformers in Eastern Europe lies less in its being a transportable model & more in indicating the crucial but complex relationship between culture & political reform, & the awesome challenge that the (re)construction of political & economic culture poses. AA

Replies to Liah Greenfeld's (1995 [see abstract 9613441]) contention that nationalism produces economic development, citing its influence on three seminal economic thinkers: Karl Marx, Friedrich List, & Adam Smith. However, Greenfeld's ideological preferences lead her to a problematic conception of individualism as nationalism & flawed treatments of Smith, List, & Marx. Nationalism is better understood as an attempt to address the deepening conflict between the imperative of community & the secular trends of the marketplace, which challenge national sovereignty & democracy. 21 References. Adapted from the source document.

Social trust is usually treated as a dichotomy between particularized and generalized trust. In this article it is argued that a third distinct form, community trust, is neither particularized nor generalized and bounded in space rather than persons. Factor analysis of survey data from 33 Swedish municipalities (N=6,453) distinguishes between particularized, generalized and community trust. Furthermore, regression analyses show that the three trust forms have partly distinct antecedents and linked to different types of behaviours. While generalized trust best predicts leaps of faith in relation to strangers, community trust is the only trust form significantly predicting taking part in local problem solving. Finally, multilevel analysis shows that community trust is the trust form most vulnerable to changes with respect to ethnic diversity and socioeconomic equality. Adapted from the source document.