Postgrowth welfare systems: a view from the Nordic context

Summary, in English

As production and supply chains rely on exploitative extraction of nature and labour, consumption levels (resource use) remain one of the main indicators of inequality, across and within national contexts. In times of ongoing climate crisis and rising levels of inequalities, welfare systems face the dual challenge of transforming economies to reduce their reliance on unsustainable industries as well as maintain and expand equitable distribution of public provision. In this keyword essay, we address three overlapping concerns to consider while envisioning sustainable welfare within the Nordic context: growth and its paradoxical relation with welfare; inequalities and notions of wellbeing; and possible alternatives to arrange provision systems.

• Author: Riya Raphael; Jennifer B. Hinton; Alexander Paulsson; Max Koch; Mine Islar; Nils Grolimund
• Department/s: School of Social Work; CIRCLE; Organizational Studies; Social Policy and Sustainability; LU Profile Area: Nature-based future solutions; LUCSUS (Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies); Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC)
• Publishing year: 2024-08-08
• Language: English
• Pages: 395-407
• Publication/Series: Consumption and Society
• Volume: 3
• Issue: 3
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1332/27528499Y2024D000000026
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Bristol University Press
• Topic: Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
• Keywords: postgrowth; degrowth; Nordic welfare model; wellbeing; inequality; not-for-profit economy
• Status: Published
• Project: Postgrowth Welfare Systems
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 2752-8499