Ideologies in the Swedish Health Sector Today: The Crisis of the Social Democracy

Abstract

Sweden has a long tradition of social democracy and corporate cooperation. Social problems are treated as technological questions that always should be solved through rational and neutral means. Today Sweden faces a crisis of economy as well as a crisis of medicine. In the spirit of consensus, the state has proposed a new health reform emphasizing the responsibility of the public health service to prevent disease and provide equal access to care. It is claimed that improved health planning, based on epidemiological knowledge on inequalities, can solve the crisis in medicine within an improved system of primary care and prevention. However, in the context ‘of the current economic crisis, the struggle against health hazards and cuts in public spending has intensified and the gap between the ideology of technological rationalism and reality has widened.