The Voluntary Sector in a Social Democratic Welfare State–The Case of Sweden

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to capture a few vital features of the Swedish voluntary sector and to place them in an international perspective. The size and composition of the Swedish voluntary sector are discussed against the background of dominating theories in voluntary sector research. Special attention is also given to the role of the sector in the field of social welfare.The authors present results from comparative research projects on the voluntary sector carried out in the latter part of the 1990s. It is shown that the size of the Swedish sector is as large as in other industrialised countries, although the composition and the form of the sector differs when compared to many other countries.In weighing the importance of the sector, the authors point out that voluntary organizations make a crucial contribution in certain areas and combining work for interest and values with contributions for members and others. The characteristics of voluntary organizations and new trends within the field of social welfare are presented with the help of three ideal types.Finally, the authors discuss some conceivable scenarios for the future of the Swedish voluntary sector.

Nordic civic society organisations and the future of welfare services

“…Alm Andreassen 2004;Nylund 2000;Olsen 1994;Seim 1997;Habermann 2001a;Jeppsson 1994;Follesø 2004;Halvorsen 2002;Hrafnsdottir 1998;, Roivainen 2001Turunen 2004), while male researchers have mainly directed their interest to the macro-level as well as to the functional and economic role of the sector (e.g. Østerud & al 2003;Siisiäinen 2000;Lundström/Svedberg 2003, Lorentzen 2004.…”

“…Nordic research regularly shows empirical evidence for a very different situation in the Nordic welfare state culture (Klausen/Selle 1996;Lundström 1996;2004, 25-;Ibsen 1996;Henriksen 1996). But it is also reacting to the blindness of Nordic welfare research, which overlooked this sector until the 1990s (Bondesen & al 2001;Lundström 2004;Matthies 1991;Meeuwisse 1999) But it must be underlined that the Nordic anti-thesis seems not to have had remarkable influence, since the state-failure theory is still alive and well on the international level, and is still visible, for example, in the John Hopkins comparative project. In spite of the obvious criticism, research in the Nordic countries is also strongly influenced by the Anglo-American tradition.…”

“…44 Interestingly, the criticism directed at the welfare state in the Nordic countries seems to be strongly influenced by international debates transmitted by social scientists -not actually by an internal need in the services nor through pressure from civic society. However, in most of the Nordic countries, different types of self-help and alternative movements emerged in the 1980s, while the traditional welfare organisations were 44 See historical descriptions, Bodensen & al 2001, 356-, 402-405;Habermann 2001a;Lundström /Svedberg 2003;Trägårdh 1995;Sivesind & al 2002;Lorentzen 2004;Siisiäinen 1996;Matthies 1994a;Johnson 2001. given an integrated complementing place in the entire public system (Sivesind 2002, 109-). In most cases, alternative movements in the welfare area have also been integrated as important impulse-givers for corrections of the public system (Matthies 1990).…”

“…Several factors help to explain these special circumstances in the Swedish case, such as the stable democratic traditions, a long history of civic engagement, the influence from the large popular movements on the foundation of the voluntary sector and its organizations, and of course the existence of a functioning public sector providing universal, high quality social services in the core areas of the welfare state. It is, in addition, probably safe to say that Sweden, on a more general level, has a tradition of relying on and keeping trust with the state itself and almost all its organizations (Lundström & Svedberg, 2003). 83 The literature review of Swedish civil society research is rich in examples of those early 1990s publications that describe the coexistence of the large civil society and the universal welfare state.…”

Welfare Mix as a Contested Terrain: Political Positions on Government–Non-profit Relations at National and Local Levels in a Social Democratic Welfare State

“…This is certainly so in the context of the Swedish welfare state as it is often seen as the archetype of a Social Democratic welfare state model, in which NPV sector organisations (hereafter NPVOs), as well as market-based forprofit actors, have generally held a marginal position in producing welfare services for the larger population and the main role and function for NPVOs has been to act as political agents, fulfilling an expressive rather than a service-oriented function (e.g. Lundström and Svedberg 2003;Svedberg and Olsson 2010;Wollebeak and Selle 2008;Selle and Wollebaek 2010). Albeit Sweden was not struck by recent economic crisis to the same extent as many other European countries, this institutionalized role is currently in flux and observers point to ongoing and gradual shifts 'from voice to service' or 'from members to volunteers' and an increase in professionalization among these organisations (Wijkström and Einarsson 2006;Papakostas 2004;Svedberg and Olsson 2010;Danielsson et al 2009).…”