A Long Day’s Journey into Night – examining the Swedish model, present and future

Abstract

In this essay we strive to examine how the social work in Sweden will be affected if the Swedish welfare model goes through fundamental changes. The study illuminates the close connection between the Swedish collective bargaining model and the Swedish welfare system. The questions we present in this essay, and hopefully answer satisfactory, are: is the Swedish welfare model subject to thorough changes? How will such a change alter the social work in Sweden?, is the Swedish collective bargaining model in a state of modification? Would a modification in the collective bargaining model have effects on the Swedish welfare model?

We have used a qualitative method in collecting empirical material. We interviewed three representatives, who worked for Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, IF Metall and The Swedish Municipal Workers respectively. In addition to that we also conducted an interview with well renowned Swedish professor in Economic History, Lars Magnusson.

We found that the opinions regarding our questions differed between our informants, mainly between the employers’ organization and the union representatives. In the results we present the views of our informants, which we then later analyze through a path dependency and systems theory perspective.

The conclusions that we drew was that the Swedish welfare model is facing a substantial change and that it will affect the Swedish social work in its very core. Moreover, we believe that the collective bargaining model is at a crossroads and will have to undergo modifications to survive. Finally, the close entwinement between welfare and labour market in Sweden will result in a scenario where they will affect each other likewise.