Kenneth Nelson

Sveriges ekonomiska trygghetssystem har länge setts som ett typexempel på universell välfärdspolitik. Detta system har emellertid förändrats avsevärt under senare årtionden, vilket väcker frågan om hur bestående de universella dragen inom välfärdspolitiken egentligen är. I denna artikel analyseras förändringar inom arbetslöshetsförsäkringen, sjukpenning, den allmänna pensionen och det behovsprövade skyddet mot låg inkomst, i jämförelse med 17 andra OECD-länder under perioden 1980-2020. Resultaten visar att ersättningsnivåerna i flera fall har sjunkit från att ha legat klart över genomsnittet för de jämförda länderna till att i flera fall ligga under det. Inkomsttaken har successivt urholkats och försörjningsstödet har halkat efter den allmänna inkomstutvecklingen. Samtidigt har den relativa fattigdomen ökat och koncentrerats till grupper i behov av de offentliga trygghetssystemen. En förflyttning kan således urskiljas från en universell välfärdsmodell mot ett mer grundtrygghetsorienterat system, som mindre utsträckning bidrar till att motverka ekonomisk utsatthet i befolkningen.

Many climate change mitigation policies face public opposition, especially when they impose visible costs on households and are perceived as unfairly regressive. This country‐comparative study examines specific social policy instruments that may help build public support for increasing fossil fuel taxes in Europe. Using multilevel modeling with data from the European Social Survey and the Social Policy Indicators database, we find that higher levels of means‐tested social assistance are positively associated with greater public support for fossil fuel taxes. More specifically, means‐tested social assistance appears to promote support by reducing self‐experienced economic hardship and lessening value conflicts among individuals with strong eco‐social values. Policies that raise the minimum income floor in society thus seem crucial for fostering eco‐social synergies and strengthening public support for government‐led climate action and decarbonization efforts.

Decarbonization, environmental protection, and sustainable development are more topical than ever. Despite long-standing debates about the regressive profile of environmental taxes, the welfare state’s role in buffering adverse distributive impacts of climate policy is largely unexplored. We examine if social policy shields households from falling into poverty due to environmental taxes tied to consumption. We specifically focus on the importance of income replacement in social insurance and social assistance. To enable detailed assessments of the distributive outcomes of environmental policy, we impute environmental taxes into the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). Our comparative analysis of 26 European countries indicates that the welfare state protects households from relative income poverty due to environmental taxes. Moreover, comparisons between educational groups suggest that both social insurance and social assistance play different yet complementary roles in reducing socio-economic gradients in poverty related to environmental taxes.

Housing benefits differ substantially across countries. In this paper, we apply power resource theory, developed primarily in relation to the emergence and subsequent expansion of social citizenship, to housing policy. The purpose is to analyse the political determinants of housing benefits, and particularly the role of left parties and the partisan mobilization of labour. The empirical analyses are based on new housing benefit data for 31 affluent democracies from the period 2001–2018. The results of a series of fixed effects pooled time-series regressions show that the strength of left government is positively associated with the size of housing benefits. However, the positive influence of left cabinets is conditional on the relative size of rental housing and the fractionalization of the party system. Our findings highlight the need to combine actor-oriented explanations of the welfare state with theories about the corporatist power structures of society.

The prominent role of social policy in European countries is clearly visible in European societies today. Against this backdrop, this introductory chapter discusses the rationale for the book, outlining the emergence of the European Social Policy Analysis Network (ESPAnet), a multidisciplinary scholarly forum showcasing research about social policy in Europe. We discuss how key insights from this ongoing ESPAnet endeavor have advanced European social policy research, and summarizes the conceptual framework applied throughout the book. To do this, we provide a brief overview of key social policy developments in Europe. We then focus on the evolution of research about social policy by providing key points from each of the chapters in the book.

In this concluding chapter, we reflect on future research about social policy in Europe. We note three key developments in research about social policy before outlining where how future research should be directed. We note the need for research to broaden the view on social policy once again, the need for greater theoretical development to ensure a robust future of research on social policy, and the need to further strengthen and exploit the multidisciplinary nature of our research community, as highlighted by the chapters in the book. European welfare states will continue to face unforeseen, far-reaching challenges in the next decades that are difficult to predict today. However, this book shows that social policy research is well positioned to address these challenges, informing policymakers and the public about the immediate problems at hand, bringing clarity about which policies work and for whom, and what alternative policy solutions may be available

This essay was delivered as a speech by the outgoing president of the Swedish Sociological Association in connection with the bi-annual Sociologidagarna in Uppsala 16–18 March 2022. Guitar playing and sociology has many things in common, including how competence and skills are achieved. Based on everyday observations, four generalised stages in learning are outlined, that apply equally to guitar playing and sociology. To clearly differentiate each successive stage in the learning process, innovative analogies to bird life was used. In chronological order from novice to genius, the following separate stages of learning were identified: the birdhouse, the magpie, the lyrebird, and the nightingale. The birdhouse is characterised by surprise, confusion and almost total inability or ignorance, whereas the most prominent features of the magpie is curiosity, high energy and repetition. The lyrebird is occupied by imitation, self-centring and identity creation, whereas the nightingale shows clear signs of excellence and genuine innovation. Few guitar players and sociologists make the move from lyrebird to nightingale.