Socialdemokratin och kapitalismen

Abstract

The Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) has been the most influential political party in Sweden during the 20th century. This study investigates the changes in social democratic ideology by analysing the party programs, between the periods of 1975 to 2020, and by interviewing the people who wrote the programs. An often-held notion is that the social democrats during the 1960s and 1970s were politically radical, in the sense that the goal of the politics was to step-by-step abolish the capitalistic system and create a socialist society. The theory continues that social democracy has since the 1980s changed this position and evolved from the idea of abolition of capitalism to acceptance of market economy. The purpose of this study is to research whether there is truth in the claim that social democracy has changed its attitude towards capitalism during the period 1975–2020. Both the qualitative and quantitative methods used in this study show that the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) has changed its position regarding their view of capitalism. The Social Democrats have, due to changes on the international arena and globalisation of the economy, reconsidered their political positions concerning capitalism. The party programs have evolved from being characterized by a utopian focus on the abolition of capitalism to, at greater extent, describe the party's policy goals in a short to middle-range perspective. The social democrats have changed their political goal from the abolition of capitalism to a regulated market economy.