Policy Press
Eleven Corporatist structures and cultural diversity in Sweden
Abstract
This chapter reviews a period of tumultuous structural change and new sociocultural conditions in Sweden. It begins with the paradigmatic shift of the 1980s away from the Keynesian–corporatist–Fordist epoch and looks at the reinvention of the notion of the not-for-profit ‘social economy’ sector in a Swedish context. Through several cases of different immigrant groups and the ‘host’ population, the chapter explores the relevance and applicability of these changes for individuals at risk.
The cases portray some dramatic shifts in Swedish history. The lives of some began between the 1950s and 1970s, when both society and the workplace appeared monocultural, and political and organisational messages were rather confident. These cases show that the 1990s brought a fragmentation of messages, and even a lack of belief in coherent ideologies. The development of opportunities for individuals from a range of age groups and ethnic backgrounds in the social economy (the non-profit enterprise sector) are also considered, together with their backgrounds in a number of key Swedish firms.
A common argument in current social policy in Sweden is that, in certain more advanced branches of the economy, linguistic barriers represent powerful and genuine barriers to cross-cultural participation. At the same time, ‘cultural excuses’ are often deployed as a reason for excluding immigrants, so that they meet ‘glass ceilings and doors’ that are not necessary. This chapter explores varying strategies of members of immigrant groups in overcoming such obstacles.
Corporatism can be briefly defined as a regime under which corporations on the one hand and trade unions on the other moved from one collective settlement to another with the support of the state as the ‘third party’.
Abstract
This chapter reviews a period of tumultuous structural change and new sociocultural conditions in Sweden. It begins with the paradigmatic shift of the 1980s away from the Keynesian–corporatist–Fordist epoch and looks at the reinvention of the notion of the not-for-profit ‘social economy’ sector in a Swedish context. Through several cases of different immigrant groups and the ‘host’ population, the chapter explores the relevance and applicability of these changes for individuals at risk.
The cases portray some dramatic shifts in Swedish history. The lives of some began between the 1950s and 1970s, when both society and the workplace appeared monocultural, and political and organisational messages were rather confident. These cases show that the 1990s brought a fragmentation of messages, and even a lack of belief in coherent ideologies. The development of opportunities for individuals from a range of age groups and ethnic backgrounds in the social economy (the non-profit enterprise sector) are also considered, together with their backgrounds in a number of key Swedish firms.
A common argument in current social policy in Sweden is that, in certain more advanced branches of the economy, linguistic barriers represent powerful and genuine barriers to cross-cultural participation. At the same time, ‘cultural excuses’ are often deployed as a reason for excluding immigrants, so that they meet ‘glass ceilings and doors’ that are not necessary. This chapter explores varying strategies of members of immigrant groups in overcoming such obstacles.
Corporatism can be briefly defined as a regime under which corporations on the one hand and trade unions on the other moved from one collective settlement to another with the support of the state as the ‘third party’.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Abbreviations v
- Acknowledgements vi
- Notes on contributors vii
- Introduction: from biography to social policy 1
- Suffering the fall of the Berlin Wall: blocked journeys in Spain and Germany 23
- Guilty victims: social exclusion in contemporary France 41
- Premodernity and postmodernity in Southern Italy 61
- A tale of class differences in contemporary Britain 77
- The shortest way out of work 97
- Male journeys into uncertainty 115
- Love and emancipation 131
- Female identities in late modernity 151
- Gender and family in the development of Greek state and society 175
- Corporatist structures and cultural diversity in Sweden 193
- ‘Migrants’: a target-category for social policy? Experiences of first-generation migration 213
- Second-generation transcultural lives 229
- Biographical work and agency innovation: relationships, reflexivity and theory-in-use 247
- Conclusions: social transitions and biographical work 269
- Discovering biographies in changing social worlds: the biographical–interpretive method 289
- Historicising the ‘socio’, theory, and the constant comparative method 309
- Index 329
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Abbreviations v
- Acknowledgements vi
- Notes on contributors vii
- Introduction: from biography to social policy 1
- Suffering the fall of the Berlin Wall: blocked journeys in Spain and Germany 23
- Guilty victims: social exclusion in contemporary France 41
- Premodernity and postmodernity in Southern Italy 61
- A tale of class differences in contemporary Britain 77
- The shortest way out of work 97
- Male journeys into uncertainty 115
- Love and emancipation 131
- Female identities in late modernity 151
- Gender and family in the development of Greek state and society 175
- Corporatist structures and cultural diversity in Sweden 193
- ‘Migrants’: a target-category for social policy? Experiences of first-generation migration 213
- Second-generation transcultural lives 229
- Biographical work and agency innovation: relationships, reflexivity and theory-in-use 247
- Conclusions: social transitions and biographical work 269
- Discovering biographies in changing social worlds: the biographical–interpretive method 289
- Historicising the ‘socio’, theory, and the constant comparative method 309
- Index 329
