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 culturalvalues such as individual autonomy.

Autorentext

Synnøve Bendixsen is Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen, Norway.

Mary Bente Bringslid is Associate Professor in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen, Norway.

Halvard Vike is Professor in the Department of Health, Social, and Welfare Studies at the University College of Southeast Norway, and Senior Researcher at Telemark Research Institute, Norway.

Inhalt

1. Introduction.- 2. The Cultural Construction of Equality in Norden.- 3. The Cradle of Norwegian Equality and Egalitarianism Norway in the 19th Century.- 4. Critiquing the View from Within: Likhet is not Equality.- 5. Social Imaginaries of Equality in an Age of Financialization/Neoliberalization.- 6. Egalitarianism, Mobilization, and Resistance.- 7. Normative Hierarchy and Pragmatic Egalitarianism in Municipal Policy Development.- 8. Care and Control in the Clinic: - How Deep into their Lives can we Really go?.- 9. Experiencing the Welfare State: Sick Leave and Local Culture.- 10. Social Differences in Health as a Challenge to the Danish Welfare State.- 11. Irregular Migrants and the Norwegian Welfare State.- 12. Reshaping Egalitarian Practices: Vocational Youth between Schooling, Industry, and Popular Culture in Rural Norway.- 13. Equality and Fairness: Some Comparative Perspectives.- 14. The (In)egalitarian Dynamics of 'Gender Equality' in Contemporary Norway.- 15. ConditionedBelonging: Middle-class Ethnic Minorities in Norway.- 16. Riding along in the Name of Equality: Everyday Demands on Refugee Children to Conform to Local Bodily Practices of "Danishness".