Folkhemmet (Swedish:[ˈfɔ̂lkˌhɛmːɛt],lit. 'thepeople's home') is a political concept that played an important role in the history of theSwedish Social Democratic Party and the Swedishwelfare state. It is also sometimes used to refer to the long period between 1932 and 1976 when the Social Democrats were in power (except for a brief period in 1936 whenAxel Pehrsson-Bramstorp from theFarmers' League wasprime minister) and the concept was put into practice, but also works as a poetic name for the Swedish welfare state. Sometimes referred to as "the Swedish Middle Way",folkhemmet was viewed as midway betweencapitalism andsocialism. The base of thefolkhem vision is that the entire society ought to be like a family, where everybody contributes, but also where everybody looks after one another. The Swedish Social Democrats' successes in the postwar period is often explained by the fact that the party managed to motivate major social reforms with the idea of thefolkhem and the national family's joint endeavor.[1][2]
The Social Democratic leadersErnst Wigforss, an avidKeynesian,Gustav Möller andPer Albin Hansson, asocial corporatist, are considered the mainarchitects offolkhemmet, with inspiration from the conservativeRudolf Kjellén and the Danish Social Democrats C.V. Bramsnæs andKarl Kristian Steincke.[3] It was later developed by Prime MinistersTage Erlander andOlof Palme until the Social Democratic Party lost power in 1976. Another important proponent wasHjalmar Branting, who came into contact with the concept while a student atUppsala University, and went on to become the first socialist Prime Minister of Sweden.
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The term is thought to have its roots inRudolf Kjellén's vision of acorporatist-styled society based on class collaboration in the national interest, largely based on the GermanVerein für Socialpolitik's juxtaposing ofconservative stability and continuity to social reforms otherwise associated with socialist parties, such asuniversal healthcare andunemployment benefits, as well as ideas from the BritishFabian Society and AmericanProgressivism.[4]
Per Albin Hansson introduced the concept on 18 January 1928, saying that Sweden should become more like a "good home", this being marked by equality and mutual understanding. Hansson advocated that the traditional class society should then be replaced by "the people's home" (folkhemmet). In his famous speech on 18 January 1928, Hansson expressed the Social Democrats' view of society:[5]
The good home knows no privileged or misfortuned, no favorites or undesired. There no one looks down on the other. There none try to gain benefits on the others expense, the strong do not oppress and plunder the weak. In the good home reigns equality, kindness, cooperation, helpfulness.
After Hansson, the same policy was continued until the late 1960s by Prime MinisterTage Erlander. According to the Social Democrats, the people's home is a democratic welfare society that operates on the principle of common spirit and community. This, they say, requires social policies such as universal health insurance, child benefits, an occupational pension scheme and primary school. Political opponents often did not oppose these reforms per se, but warned of their cost and tax tightening.[6]
The concept came at a time whennationalization was being questioned, and marked the party's abandonment of the notion ofclass struggle, a concept fundamental to the earlySocial Democratic movement. Instead, they adapted a planned economy under what would later be calledfunktionssocialism, where businesses were controlled through regulations rather than government ownership. The government would then also have more control over the individual, however, to the extent required to increase the wellbeing of citizens.
Good and easily available education, even to higher levels, was considered particularly important for building the new society. As a result, Sweden became one of the first countries in the world to offer free education at all levels, including all public universities, along with several new universities founded during the 1960s. Freeuniversal health care was provided by the state, enacted in 1947–55, along with numerous other social services.
During the 1930s,Human population planning became an important part offolkhemmet.Alva andGunnar Myrdal's 1934 bookCrisis in the Population Question inspired a radical and progressive policy for how to deal with a declining population. A number of changes took place in this period including expansion of thepublic sector, Wigforss' economic policies,Gustav Möller's reform of thepension system, and Gunnar Myrdal's housing policies.Alva and Gunnar Myrdal suggested a series of programs designed to increase population growth by increasing the freedoms and rights of childbearing women and children.
In the 1940s and 50s, old, worn down houses that served as the overcrowded dwellings of the lower class were demolished. Instead, people were offered modern housing with bathrooms and windows to let light into every room, so calledfunkis architecture. To remedy the housing shortage during the Record Years, the country's industrial boom, theMillion Programme accomplished the construction of one million new homes 1965-75. The program included state mortgages favoring large-scale industrial construction of high-rise districts, primarily on the outskirts of cities, which is what the programme in retrospect is notorious for, but also to townhouses and privately owned single-family homes, often incommuter towns.
