Folkhemmet

Folkhemmet (Swedish: [²fɔlkhɛmːɛt], the ) is a political concept that played an important role in the history of the Swedish Social Democratic Party and the Swedish welfare state. It is also sometimes used to refer to the long period between 1932-1976 when the Social democrats were in power 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 between capitalism and socialism. The base of the Folkhem vision is that the entire society ought to be like a small family, where everybody contributes. 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 the folkhem and the national family's joint endeavor.

The term is thought to have its roots in Rudolf Kjellén's vision of a corporatist-styled society based on class collaboration in the national interest, largely based on Otto von Bismarck's juxtaposing of conservative stability and continuity to social reforms otherwise associated with socialist parties, such as universal healthcare and unemployment benefits.

The Social Democratic leaders Ernst Wigforss, an avid Keynesian, and Per Albin Hansson, a social corporatist, are considered the main architects of folkhemmet, with inspiration from the conservative Kjellén. It was later developed by the Prime Ministers Tage Erlander and Olof Palme until the Social Democratic party historically lost power in 1976. Another important proponent was Hjalmar Branting, who came into contact with the concept while a student at Uppsala university, and went on to become the first socialist Prime Minister of Sweden.

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