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The book aims to explain the emergence of the Norwegian--and to some extent, the Scandinavian--welfare state in historical and anthropological terms. Halvard Vike argues that particular forms of political grassroots mobilization contributed heavily to what he calls "a low level of gravity state"--A political order in which decentralized institutions make it possible to curtail centralizing forces. While there is a large international literature on the Nordic welfare states, there is limited knowledge about how these states are embedded in local contexts. Vike's approach is based on an ethnographic practice which may be labeled "in and out of institutions." It is based on ethnographic work in municipal assemblies, local bureaucracies, political parties, voluntary organizations, and various informal contexts

"Acknowledgements" -- "Contents" -- "Chapter 1 Setting the Stage: In and Out of Institutions" -- "Introduction: The Problem and the Perspective" -- "Enter Ulefoss" -- "Reciprocity in Politics" -- "Traditional or Modern?" -- "State Building in Scandinavia: Some Key Characteristics" -- "Chapter Outline" -- "References" -- "Chapter 2 No Direction Home? Doing Anthropology in Norway" -- "On "Home Blindness"" -- "Aspects of the Ethnography of Norway" -- "Balancing Institutional Power" -- "Trusting and Controlling Institutions" -- "Summing Up" -- "References" -- "Chapter 3 The Politics of Universalism" -- "Welfare Politics in Skien Municipality" -- "Phase 1: The Politics of Moralism" -- "Phase 2: Staging a Rebellion" -- "Phase 3: Contesting Loyalty" -- "Interpretations" -- "References" -- "Chapter 4 The Welfare State and the Possibility of Solidarity" -- "The Politics of Solidarity" -- "The Virtues of Bureaucracy" -- "The Third Way" -- "Towards a New State?" -- "References" -- "Chapter 5 The Politics of Resistance" -- "Introduction" -- "Of Peasants and State Capitalism" -- "The Dynamics of Political Change in Scandinavia" -- "Challenges to State Power: Some Examples of Political Mobilizations and Their Aftermath" -- "The Lofthus Rebellion" -- "The Haugians" -- "The Menstad Battle" -- "Political Mobilization: Some Preliminary Conclusions" -- "Four Phases of State Building" -- "References" -- "Chapter 6 Borders, Boundaries, and Bureaucratic Reform" -- "The Performance of Public Institutions" -- "Reforming the Municipal Organization" -- "What Happened?" -- "Of Illegal Aliens and Bureaucrats: An Analogy" -- "Order and Dilemma: Bueaucratic Roles and Maneuverability" -- "Conclusions: On Power and Autonomy" -- "References" -- "Chapter 7 The Welfare Municipality: Universalism, Gender, and Service Provision" -- "Exceptionalism in Street-Level Bureaucracy

Résumé En Norvège, l'influence de l'activité politique locale sur les politiques nationales a été significative, en raison peut-être d'une mise en œuvre efficace, orientée vers le peuple et fondée sur un haut degré d'autonomie municipale. La Norvège a suivi sa propre voie de modernisation ; c'est pourquoi les mouvements populaires y sont devenus particulièrement influents. À partir d'exemples empiriques pris dans deux municipalités, l'auteur avance que l'égalitarisme – considéré par beaucoup comme un aspect essentiel de la culture norvégienne – peut être vu comme une propriété émergente de la lutte politique, sur le point de faire place à un ordre plus bureaucratique et hiérarchique.

We consider an attempt – within an economy under pressure to stay competitive in an increasingly integrated global economic system – to reconcile the contradictory pressures of democratic values versus managerial efficiency, and of the desire for an effective social welfare safety net versus the need for budgetary responsibility. We focus on a local welfare committee's experimental attempt to improve morale and productivity through a combination of added resources and greater autonomy. The better but more expensive service produced by the experiment triggered the paradoxical conclusion that what was needed was tighter administrative oversight. The experiment and its evaluation became a kind of self–fulfilling prophecy. We explore the conceptual, ideological, and economic factors that shape the government's reaction, and then offer a theory of word meaning, usage, and power in public discourse that accounts for the discussion and the actions that flow from it.

Judging the extent to which sick-listed clients' disabilities qualify them for sickness benefits is increasingly part of frontline work. However, we lack knowledge about the discretional process of assessing work ability. Institutional ethnographic research of caseworkers in the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration revealed that they emphasised clients' residual work ability – meaning what clients could perform despite their medical diagnoses – as well as their inner motivations and work ethic. We argue that frontline praxis is influenced by efforts to fit clients into a category of the deserving 'sick-listed yet work-capable client'. Because caseworkers lack guidelines to combine health and work, they increasingly apply their 'moral selves' in the assessment process resulting in scepticism towards clients' feigning, or exaggerating symptoms to obtain financial benefits or avoid work. We question whether our findings represent a shift of the Norwegian universalistic welfare model to a more liberal and incentive-strengthening type.

"This book discusses egalitarianism in Scandinavian countries through historically oriented and empirically based studies on social and political change. The chapters engage with issues related to social class, political conflict, the emergence of the welfare state, public policy, and conceptualizations of equality. Throughout, the contributors discuss and sometimes challenge existing notions of the social and cultural complexity of Scandinavia. For example, how does egalitarianism in these nations differ from other contemporary manifestations of egalitarianism? Is it meaningful to continue to nurture the idea of Scandinavian exceptionalism in an age of economic crises and globalization? The book also proposes that egalitarianism is not merely a relationship between specific, influential enlightenment ideas and patterns of policy, but an aspect of social organization characterized by specific forms of political tension, mobilization, and conflict resolution-as well as emerging cultural values such as individual autonomy."--

Planning in contemporary democratic states is often understood as a range of activities, from housing to urban design, regional development to economic planning. This volume sees planning differently—as the negotiation of possibilities that time offers space. It explores what kind of promise planning offers, how such a promise is made, and what happens to it through time. The authors, all leading anthropologists, examine the time and space, creativity and agency, authority and responsibility, and conflicting desires that plans attempt to control. They show how the many people involved with planning deal with the discrepancies between what is promised and what is done. The comparative essays offer insight into the expected and unexpected outcomes of planning (from visionary utopias to bureaucratic dystopia or something in-between), how the future is envisioned at the outset, and what actual work is done and how it affects people's lives

Researchers engage in increasingly complex relationships with society and business in the process of conducting research. Can qualitative research produce high-quality results when there are close ties between the researchers and those being researched, or between research institutions, those who commission research, and user groups? This is a question that researchers should actively address, but which many are not always aware of.

With examples from qualitative studies in healthcare, policing, bureaucracy and politics, the anthology's contributors provide a comprehensive presentation of challenges researchers face when they are close to those they are researching, as well as tools that can be used to contend with certain challenges.

Proximity to Professions, Work and Politics will be of particular interest to students and researchers working with studies of professional life, organisations, work and politics, either through commissioned research or other research projects. - Forskere inngår i stadig mer komplekse relasjoner med samfunn og næringsliv i gjennomføring av forskning. Hvordan kan kvalitativ forskning produsere kunnskap av høy kvalitet når det er tette bånd mellom forskerne og de som forskes på, eller mellom forskningsinstitusjoner, oppdragsgivere og brukergrupper? Dette er et spørsmål forskere bør forholde seg aktivt til, men som mange ikke alltid er seg like bevisst.

Med eksempler fra kvalitative studier innen helse, politi, byråkrati og politikk, gir bokas bidragsytere en samlet fremstilling av utfordringer forskere kan møte når de er tett på dem de forsker på, samt hvilke verktøy man kan ta i bruk for å håndtere gitte utfordringer.

Tett på profesjon, arbeid og politikk henvender seg spesielt til studenter og forskere som arbeider med studier av profesjon, organisasjon, arbeid og politikk, enten gjennom oppdragsforskning eller andre forskningsprosjekter.