Social trust in Sweden : from contention to consensus

Abstract

This thesis is a historical sociology investigation of the evolution of social trust in Sweden - a country widely regarded as having exceptionally high levels of social and institutional trust. The thesis goes beyond conventional accounts of how these high levels of trust first emerged in Sweden. It examines important tensions over land holdings, political participation, social movements, ecclesiastical influence, and emigration to illustrate that Sweden was not always a cohesive society but one characterised by significant contestation and friction.

Through its holistic assessment of social developments in Sweden in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the thesis contributes both to structural and cultural conceptualisations of how trusting societies form. The high levels of social and institutional trust are outcomes of distinct processes and circumstances that were not predetermined to lend themselves to the formation of high levels of trust. Rather, the thesis reveals that key junctures in Swedish history - such as the 1938 Saltsjöbad Agreement and the implementation of universal social welfare policies - laid the foundations for a unique amalgam of cultural and institutional trust.

The thesis sheds light on dimensions that have hitherto figured only marginally in the scholarship on Nordic trust. These include political culture, the evolution of capitalism in Sweden, the legacy of religious conformism, labour market relations, and the agitation for universal suffrage. This analysis illustrates the extent to which the divisive political culture and social reality of early modern Sweden was not conducive for the emergence of social trust. It finds that, contrary to much of the mainstream theoretical scholarship, high levels of trust emerged from significant levels of contestation and conflict and argues that trust is not a cultural but a socially constructed and historically contingent phenomenon that can be created and preserved under certain structural conditions, and broken under others.

The thesis contributes to a growing scholarly and political interest in trust, effective governance, social well-being, and institutionalised welfare policies. Social trust has established itself as a valuable conceptual resource in research on Nordic societies and for explaining the variation among countries' performance in regards to social progress, good governance, and quality of life issues.