‘Citizens as Consumers’: A Discussion of New Emergent Forms of Marginalisation in the Nordic Welfare States

Abstract

The Nordic welfare state has traditionally been associated with principles of universalism, a high degree of collective welfare redistribution and an encompassing state. However in recent years, in line with the rest of Europe, we have seen a tendency towards a more market-oriented welfare state, reflected in policy changes characterised by a renewed division of welfare responsibility between public and private, a movement from a direct protection of citizens towards enabling them to individually satisfy their welfare needs within markets, thereby promoting freedom of choice as a significant dimension of welfare services. However, although this is not usually part of the public debate concerning increased marketisation of the welfare state, these changes require a specific set of individual competences and capacities to navigate, foresee and plan one's own future and calculate one's future welfare needs. Based on empirical data analysing financial practices and orientation amongst two different groups of citizens, the paper discusses the possible implications of this increased individualisation of welfare for different groups of citizens – low-income and middle-income groups. Although both groups show a high degree of willingness to comply with norms associated with consumer-citizenship, clear distinctions arise when we look at the actual possibilities and ‘capabilities’ of complying with the emerging role and assumed behaviour inherent in the development of the consumer-citizenship welfare regime.