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Cultural Traditions and the Scandinavian Social Policy Model
Author(s) -
Lin Ka
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
social policy and administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1467-9515
pISSN - 0144-5596
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9515.2005.00466.x
Subject(s) - welfare state , interpretation (philosophy) , scope (computer science) , agrarian society , sociology , social policy , relation (database) , context (archaeology) , positive economics , cultural policy , state (computer science) , welfare , political economy , social science , political science , economics , law , politics , history , agriculture , archaeology , algorithm , database , computer science , programming language
Abstract This article assesses the extent to which cultural interpretation may be useful in understanding social policy models. By surveying cultural traditions, the study explores the context in which the Scandinavian social policy model was developed. The study investigates the institutional legacies of Scandinavian agrarian societies and identifies certain cultural traits, making observations as to their implications for the social policy model. The study does not intend to establish any “causal relation” between specific historical phenomena and the modern welfare states, but regards cultural traditions as forming the “contextual basis” for the operation of a welfare state system. Hence this is not merely a case study of Scandinavia, but a methodological undertaking that could play a significant role in broadening the scope of the study of social policy.