{"id":1048,"date":"2026-02-20T14:02:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T14:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/?p=1048"},"modified":"2026-02-20T14:02:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T14:02:32","slug":"sweden-welfare-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/en\/sweden-welfare-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Perceptions\u00a0of Sweden&#8217;s Welfare State: Cause for Concern?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This article critically explores&nbsp;perceptions&nbsp;of the Swedish welfare state, three decades after the much-documented Choice Revolution fundamentally altered the traditional model. This research examines qualitative data from focus group interviews conducted in Sweden in 2021 and 2022. This paper investigates the&nbsp;current status&nbsp;of folkhemmet&nbsp;(the people&#8217;s home) according to those who experience it. From its peak in the decades following the Second World War to the introduction of&nbsp;privatisation&nbsp;in the 1990s, this article will investigate if Sweden&#8217;s welfare state is undergoing another transformation. Themes constructed from focus groups delineate a welfare state that, while still comparatively stronger than many others, is being hollowed out from within. It is a welfare system that produces isolation as an unintended consequence of the&nbsp;individual&nbsp;liberation it promises. It is a system deeply connected to national identity and tested by recent patterns of migration.&nbsp;Perceptions&nbsp;of the welfare state are important for its legitimacy. This qualitative study allows for deep contextual insight into what it feels like to&nbsp;participate&nbsp;in Sweden&#8217;s famed welfare state in the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Keywords:<\/strong>\u00a0Constitutional culture; Democracy; Welfare<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article critically explores&nbsp;perceptions&nbsp;of the Swedish welfare state, three decades after the much-documented Choice Revolution fundamentally altered the traditional model. This research examines qualitative data from focus group interviews conducted in Sweden in 2021 and 2022. This paper investigates the&nbsp;current status&nbsp;of folkhemmet&nbsp;(the people&#8217;s home) according to those who experience it. From its peak in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,21,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public-law","category-publication","category-sweden"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Perceptions\u00a0of Sweden&#039;s Welfare State: Cause for Concern? - FIAT<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/en\/sweden-welfare-state\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Perceptions\u00a0of Sweden&#039;s Welfare State: Cause for Concern? - FIAT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This article critically explores&nbsp;perceptions&nbsp;of the Swedish welfare state, three decades after the much-documented Choice Revolution fundamentally altered the traditional model. This research examines qualitative data from focus group interviews conducted in Sweden in 2021 and 2022. This paper investigates the&nbsp;current status&nbsp;of folkhemmet&nbsp;(the people&#8217;s home) according to those who experience it. From its peak in the [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/en\/sweden-welfare-state\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FIAT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-20T14:02:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-20T14:02:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"john\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"john\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/sweden-welfare-state\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/sweden-welfare-state\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"john\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/#\/schema\/person\/8e8ea7b04573dc9080b922d607f99e3b\"},\"headline\":\"Perceptions\u00a0of Sweden&#8217;s Welfare State: Cause for Concern?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-20T14:02:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-20T14:02:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/sweden-welfare-state\/\"},\"wordCount\":201,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Public Law\",\"Publication\",\"Sweden\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/sweden-welfare-state\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/sweden-welfare-state\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/sweden-welfare-state\/\",\"name\":\"Perceptions\u00a0of Sweden's Welfare State: Cause for Concern? - FIAT\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-20T14:02:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-20T14:02:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/#\/schema\/person\/8e8ea7b04573dc9080b922d607f99e3b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/sweden-welfare-state\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/sweden-welfare-state\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/sweden-welfare-state\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Perceptions\u00a0of Sweden&#8217;s Welfare State: Cause for Concern?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/\",\"name\":\"FIAT\",\"description\":\"My WordPress Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/#\/schema\/person\/8e8ea7b04573dc9080b922d607f99e3b\",\"name\":\"john\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/0d658dbe6560e0312361fc12a18c5178.jpg?ver=1775067346\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/0d658dbe6560e0312361fc12a18c5178.jpg?ver=1775067346\",\"caption\":\"john\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/en\/author\/john\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Perceptions\u00a0of Sweden's Welfare State: Cause for Concern? - FIAT","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/foundations.ac\/en\/sweden-welfare-state\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Perceptions\u00a0of Sweden's Welfare State: Cause for Concern? - FIAT","og_description":"This article critically explores&nbsp;perceptions&nbsp;of the Swedish welfare state, three decades after the much-documented Choice Revolution fundamentally altered the traditional model. 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