Folkhemmet: concepto clave de la política y la cohesión social en Suecia

María José Vicente Vicente; Aurora Galán Carretero

doi:10.31637/epsir-2025-986

Authors

María José Vicente Vicente University of Castilla-La Mancha https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7962-0362
Aurora Galán Carretero University of Castilla-La Mancha https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0022-4683

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2025-986

Keywords:

folkhemmet, welfare state, social democracy, nationalism, conservatism, social cohesion, multiculturalism, community

Abstract

Introduction: ‘Folkhemmet’ is a metaphor for a society with an advanced social welfare system, mainly associated with the Swedish Social Democratic Party and Per Albin Hansson, who introduced the concept in 1928. Methodology: The study examines how the term ‘folkhemmet’ has been used and reinterpreted, especially in the context of the period between 1945 and 1960, known as the ‘folkhem period’, when thousands of houses were built in Sweden. Results: During the ‘folkhem period’, Sweden experienced a significant expansion of housing and social welfare. However, in recent years, the radical right has reinterpreted the ‘folkhem’ concept as an ideological goal to build a modern ‘people's home’, promoting a restrictive migration policy and displacing the idea of an inclusive welfare state. Discussion: Jimmie Åkesson, in his book Det moderna folkhemmet, presents a version of ‘folkhem’ in which class struggle is replaced by social cohesion, social cohesion and social cohesion. replaced by social cohesion, secure welfare and ‘welfare chauvinism’, thus transforming the original concept. Conclusions: The concept of ‘folkhemmet’ has evolved, reflecting ideological and political changes from an inclusive model to one with a more restrictive view of social cohesion.

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Author Biographies

María José Vicente Vicente, University of Castilla-La Mancha

Professor and researcher attached to the Department of Political Science and Administration (UCM) and Sociology at the Faculty of Labour Relations of the University of Castilla-La Mancha. PhD in Political Science and Sociology (2023) within the Social Problems Analysis programme and in Information Science (2016), she holds a degree in Law, Political Science and Administration and a diploma in Marketing and Advertising. She completed her postdoctoral stay at the University of Évora in the Faculty of Sociology in 2021. Her main research interests are the Nordic model, emerging welfare states, the crisis of political legitimacy and the party system, ethics and good governance and social policy.

Aurora Galán Carretero, University of Castilla-La Mancha

Aurora Galán teaches in different fields of sociology: Sociology of Work and Sociology of Gender. Her teaching career began in 2002, at the University of Castilla-La Mancha; currently Associate Professor at the Faculty of Labour Relations and Human Resources in Albacete. In December 2014 she took up the post of academic secretary and since 19 April 2021 she has been Dean of the Faculty. She has supervised 42 TFG, 2 TFM and is currently co-directing a doctoral thesis. She has made several stays abroad as a visiting professor: at the Instituto Superior de Economía e Gestão (ISEG) in Lisbon (Portugal) and at the Ceiil-Piette of the CONICET in Buenos Aires (Argentina).

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