2016
DOI: 10.1017/ssh.2015.80
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Unlocking the Social Trap: Inequality, Trust and the Scandinavian Welfare State

Abstract: Recent research suggests that economic inequality thwarts attempts to establish a welfare state. The corollary of this view is that today's welfare states had witnessed an equality revolution already before the rise of social policies aiming at redistribution. The paper brings this insight to bear on the creation of the welfare state in Sweden, for many the very model of a universal welfare state, and enquires into whether equality really predated the formation of universal welfare policies in the 1950s. We pr… Show more

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Cited by 12 publications
(6 citation statements)
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“…Western countries at the turn of the 20 th century; however, the first decades of the 20 th century were characterised by rapidly declining earnings inequality (Roine and Waldenström, 2015;Bengtsson and Prado, 2020). In particular the years around the elementary schooling period of these individuals have been characterised as an "equality revolution" (Gärtner and Prado, 2016) due to a sharp reduction in inequality.…”
Section: F2 Heterogeneitymentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Western countries at the turn of the 20 th century; however, the first decades of the 20 th century were characterised by rapidly declining earnings inequality (Roine and Waldenström, 2015;Bengtsson and Prado, 2020). In particular the years around the elementary schooling period of these individuals have been characterised as an "equality revolution" (Gärtner and Prado, 2016) due to a sharp reduction in inequality.…”
Section: F2 Heterogeneitymentioning
confidence: 99%
“…To gain majoritarian support, redistributive politics would presuppose universal benefits for the middle classes (Arikan and Cekecioglu, 2019 , p. 1114), too, and trust in the reciprocal shouldering of its cost between people in different phases of life. Increasing inequality and growing social distances diminish social trust necessary for redistribution (Gärtner and Prado, 2016 ).…”
Section: Discussion and Caveatsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Empirically, evidence for this hypothesis is however inconclusive (Fairbrother and Martin, 2013;Fairbrother, 2014;Hastings, 2018;Kanitsar, 2022). To the extent that previous research establishes a causal relationship between redistribution and social trust, it points to reverse causality, with historically high trust levels explaining highly redistributive welfare states rather than the other way around (Bergh andBjørnskov, 2011, 2014;Bjørnskov and Svendsen, 2013;Gärtner and Prado, 2016).…”
Section: Welfare States and Social Trustmentioning
confidence: 99%