How is the Nordic welfare state doing? Contemporary public constructs on challenges and achievements

Abstract

Abstract Public constructs of the welfare state are vital for the continuous assurance of the system’s validity, sustainability and accountability. This study produces descriptive cross-country snapshots of how the welfare state is construed in contemporary Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish mass media discourse as an object to relate to. The analysis shows that in Denmark a core question concerned the welfare state’s reliability and accountability to citizens, who have the right to the services that they have paid for through taxes. The problems and solutions were often portrayed as pertaining to economical prioritizations. In Finland, the ability to maintain stability and provide opportunities was framed in a historical light and as supra-generational to its character. In Norway, the legacy of the welfare state was built around notions of solidarity and a sense of community. The declining public incomes from the extraction of oil was a reality for the welfare state to navigate in. In Sweden, more than in the other countries, emphasis was put on the welfare state as a project of values such as solidarity and equality. The contents in each of the four materials can be seen to reflect their origins in operational milieus in which the welfare state is the premise for all public and democratic institutions, including the mass media.

Keywords

• Welfare state
• welfare society
• media constructs
• Nordic comparison
• dependency ratio
• Welfarestate