IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/loceco/v27y2012i5-6p558-576.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Nordic paths from welfare to workfare: Danish, Swedish and Finnish labour market reforms in comparison

Author

Listed:
  • Johannes Kananen

Abstract

This article engages in a dynamic comparative analysis of key labour market reforms in Denmark, Sweden and Finland from the early 1990s to the 2000s. During this period traditional egalitarian and collectivist elements of Nordic social insurance were reshaped by workfare reforms. The ways in which the principle of workfare changed the content of Nordic collectivist social insurance are compared along five dimensions. According to the interpretation suggested in the light of the comparison, the traditional egalitarian and collectivist Nordic social order has not been replaced by an increased scope for autonomy. Instead, workfare reforms have contributed to an understanding of obligations in terms of obedience and to the establishment of social order through control mechanisms. The degree of changes varies, so that Swedish and Danish workfare reforms appear to have retained some of the traditional egalitarian aspects. As a contrast, Finnish reforms appear to be toughest for individual benefit recipients introducing strong control of unwanted behaviour.

Suggested Citation

  • Johannes Kananen, 2012. "Nordic paths from welfare to workfare: Danish, Swedish and Finnish labour market reforms in comparison," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 27(5-6), pages 558-576, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:loceco:v:27:y:2012:i:5-6:p:558-576
    DOI: 10.1177/0269094212445351
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0269094212445351
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0269094212445351?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Esping-Andersen, Gosta, 1999. "Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198742005.
    2. Dean, Hartley, 2007. "The ethics of welfare-to-work," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 3453, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Jean-Michel Bonvin, 2008. "Activation Policies: New Modes of Governance and the Issue of Responsibility," Godishnik na UNSS, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 1, pages 383-394, July.
    4. Kvist, Jon & Pedersen, Lisbeth, 2007. "Danish Labour Market Activation Policies," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 202, pages 99-112, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. repec:ces:ifofor:v:19:y:2018:i:3:p:15-19 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Jurgen De Wispelaere & Antti Halmetoja & Ville-Veikko Pulkka, 2018. "The Rise (and Fall) of the Basic Income Experiment in Finland," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 19(03), pages 15-19, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ngai, L. Rachel & Pissarides, Christopher A., 2009. "Welfare policy and the distribution of hours of work," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 28698, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Sam Hickey & Tom Lavers & Miguel Niño-Zarazúa & Jeremy Seekings, 2018. "The negotiated politics of social protection in sub-Saharan Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-34, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Frances McGinnity & Emma Calvert, 2008. "Yuppie Kvetch? Work-life Conflict and Social Class in Western Europe," Papers WP239, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    4. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/8807 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Erik Stam & Roy Thurik & Peter van der Zwan, 2010. "Entrepreneurial exit in real and imagined markets," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 19(4), pages 1109-1139, August.
    6. Seán Ó Riain & Amy Erbe Healy, 2024. "Workplace regimes in Western Europe, 1995–2015: Implications for intensification, intrusion, income and insecurity," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 45(2), pages 415-446, May.
    7. Ilaria Rocco & Davide Girardi, 2024. "Giovani, background migratorio e ingresso nel mercato del lavoro regionale," ECONOMIA E SOCIET? REGIONALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2024(1), pages 87-101.
    8. Gasper, D.R., 2020. "Amartya Sen, social theorizing and contemporary India," ISS Working Papers - General Series 126789, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    9. Mahmud Rice, James & Goodin, Robert E. & Parpo, Antti, 2006. "The Temporal Welfare State: A Crossnational Comparison," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 26(3), pages 195-228, December.
    10. Spies-Butcher, Ben & Bryant, Gareth, 2024. "The history and future of the tax state: Possibilities for a new fiscal politics beyond neoliberalism," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    11. Simone Schneider, 2012. "Income Inequality and its Consequences for Life Satisfaction: What Role do Social Cognitions Play?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 106(3), pages 419-438, May.
    12. Anna Baranowska-Rataj & Anna Matysiak, 2016. "The Causal Effects of the Number of Children on Female Employment - Do European Institutional and Gender Conditions Matter?," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 343-367, September.
    13. Anna Garriga & Sebastià Sarasa & Paolo Berta, 2015. "Mother’s educational level and single motherhood: Comparing Spain and Italy," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 33(42), pages 1165-1210.
    14. Thomas Leoni & Margit Schratzenstaller-Altzinger, 2020. "Senkung der Lohnnebenkosten und Finanzierungsvarianten. Bisherige Erkenntnisse und internationale Reformbeispiele," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 66851, April.
    15. Randy Albelda & Diana Salas Coronado, 2014. "Expanding Women's Healthcare Access in the United States: The Patchwork “Universalism†of the Affordable Care Act," Working Papers 2014_02, University of Massachusetts Boston, Economics Department.
    16. Clemens Tesch-Römer & Andreas Motel-Klingebiel & Martin Tomasik, 2008. "Gender Differences in Subjective Well-Being: Comparing Societies with Respect to Gender Equality," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 85(2), pages 329-349, January.
    17. Chris Wilson, 2013. "Thinking about post-transitional demographic regimes," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 28(46), pages 1373-1388.
    18. Christina Behrendt, 2000. "Holes in the Safety Net? Social Security and the Alleviation of Poverty in a Comparative Perspective," LIS Working papers 259, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    19. Ben Spies-Butcher & Ben Phillips & Troy Henderson, 2020. "Between universalism and targeting: Exploring policy pathways for an Australian Basic Income," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 31(4), pages 502-523, December.
    20. Caroline Dewilde, 2008. "Individual and institutional determinants of multidimensional poverty: A European comparison," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 86(2), pages 233-256, April.
    21. Guo, Jing & Gilbert, Neil, 2014. "Public attitudes toward government responsibility for child care: The impact of individual characteristics and welfare regimes," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 82-89.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:loceco:v:27:y:2012:i:5-6:p:558-576. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/index.shtml .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.