Life courses in a Scandinavian welfare state

The challenges facing welfare states have reached the top of the international policy agenda and admiration for ‘the Nordic model’ is growing.  At the same time, misunderstandings about how welfare states work are becoming more common in public discourse. In spring 2015 a new course in Sociology makes use of a life course perspective for analysing these and related developments. The main focus is on the variety of institutional contexts in which different types of welfare are provided in different phases of life and how these contexts have changed over recent decades, influencing people’s lives in different ways depending on age, gender, ethnicity and social class. The implications of changing family formations, and migration, for these questions, are also addressed.

The course will challenge individualistic conceptions of welfare by examining patterns of interdependence and care work in different phases of life. The demographic challenges currently facing many welfare states, and claims about ‘generational conflict’, are examined through a life course perspective on intergenerational relations. Case studies predominantly from Norway are used to illustrate wider historical developments and contemporary debates.

The first lecture is held on Wednesday January 13th 1015-12 at Dragefjellet.

More information on the objectives and content of the course, as well as schedule and reading list, can be found at https://www.uib.no/en/course/SOS109.