Private and Public Welfare Providers: What are the Implications for Citizenship Roles?

Abstract

Universal social services have been, and are, a hallmark of the Scandinavian welfare model. This includes public financing as well as public provision of the services. Public financing of universal services is still an undisputed part of the model, but the provision of the services is becoming more diversified (Sivesind, 2013). In Sweden for-profit provision has over the last 20 years continuously expanded its share of the welfare sector, in Denmark non-profits have over time played an important role within certain welfare sectors, whilst in Norway the public is still the dominant actor, but important political actors want to expand the scope for especially nonprofit actors, but also for for-profit actors.

These developments invites to studies that can deepen our understanding of the importance of the provider, given that the universal character of the funding of services remains intact. This project will seek to understand how these changes can influence the room for active citizenship roles. The research question is: How are private and public welfare providers differently associated with active citizenship?