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Abstract
This article aims to bridge the gap between media studies and welfare state studies. While media and communications systems are crucial elements in any society, these systems are often not included in studies of the welfare state. Through a discussion of five historical phases in the evolution of Scandinavian societies and media systems, from early democratization in the late 18th century through the ‘golden age’ of the welfare state to the present challenges of globalization, digitization and the fragmentation of social trust, the article discusses the relationships between the two spheres. While Scandinavian communications systems have much in common with those of other Western states, this article argues that they are also products of, and catalysts for, the specific evolution of the Nordic welfare states.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Alestalo, Hort, and Kuhnle, ‘The Nordic Model’, 3; see also Korpi, The Working Class in Welfare Capitalism, 48.
2. Aalberg and Curran, Media Inform Democracy.
3. Syvertsen et al., The Media Welfare State.
4. Syvertsen et al., Media Welfare State.
5. The analysis is based on five phases, consistent with historical breaks of importance for the study of media and welfare state developments. Periodization is challenging, because we must deal with communications and welfare state developments in three countries. In most cases, our periodization is consistent with other literature and major events, but it occasionally departs from them as well. In particular, the division between the second and third phases could be clarified.
• First period, from 1770: bourgeois revolutions in Europe, social and political changes in Scandinavia, first codification of press freedom in Scandinavia.
• Second period, from 1850: parliamentarism in Scandinavia, intensification of industrialism and ‘the great technical revolution’ in media history. Bastiansen and Dahl, Norsk mediehistorie, ch. 3.
• Third period, from 1900: audiovisual mass media, radio technology and cinema, mass democracy with extended suffrage.
• Fourth period, from 1945: end of WWII signals beginning of enormous expansion of the welfare state, as well as state involvement in media and culture.
• Fifth period, from 1980: end of the broadcast monopolies in Scandinavia and the renewal of key welfare state policies (tendencies which emerged in the 1970s).
6. Skirbekk, Multiple Modernities, 26–32; Kananen, The Nordic Welfare State in Three Eras, 54–5; Ihalainen et al., Scandinavia in the Age of Revolution; Dørum, ‘Oppgjør med eneveldet og standssamfunnet’; Barton, Scandinavia in the Revolutionary Era.
7. Munch, ‘Absolute Monarchy in Eighteenth-Century Denmark’, 201–24; Ihalainen et al., Scandinavia in the Age of Revolution.
8. Ringvei, ‘Trykkefriheten i 1814—det opplyste eneveldets demokratiske arv’, 67–93; Rian, ‘Sensuren i Danmark–Norge 1536–1814’, 123–60.
9. Seip, ‘Teorien om det opinionstyrte eneveldet’, 397–463’. Swedish absolutism has been characterized as based on ‘the consent of the many, by conviction of the few, and by acquiescence of almost all’. Roberts, cited in Upton, ‘The Riksdag of 1680 and the Establishment of Royal Absolutism in Sweden’, 281–308.
10. Ringvei, ‘Trykkefriheten i 1814’, 70.
11. Dørum, ‘Et oppgjør med eneveldet og standssamfunnet’, 91–123, 110–111; Ringvei, ‘Trykkefriheten i 1814’.
12. Dørum, ‘Et oppgjør med eneveldet og standssamfunnet’, 110.
13. Andenæs, ‘The Development of Political Democracy in Scandinavia’, 97.
14. Bastiansen and Dahl, Norsk mediehistorie, 39–42.
15. Gustafsson and Rydén, A History of the Press in Sweden, 41.
16. Chapman, Comparative Media History, 13.
17. Gustafsson and Rydén, History of the Press in Sweden, 41.
18. Høyer, Pressen mellom teknologi og samfunn, 126.
19. Ibid., 128.
20. See, for example, Gustafsson and Rydén, History of the Press in Sweden; Picard, The Ravens of Odin.
21. Gustafsson and Rydén, History of the Press in Sweden, 82.
22. Høyer, Pressen mellom teknologi og samfunn, 130–33.
23. Ringvei, ‘Trykkefriheten i 1814’, 76–8.
24. Storsveen, ‘En frihet til besvær’, 205.
25. Eide, ‘Pressen—institusjoner og historie’, 163.
26. Bastiansen and Dahl, Norsk mediehistorie.
27. Alestalo and Kuhnle, ‘The Scandinavian Route’, 30.
28. Nilson, ‘The Political Parties’, 107.
29. Christiansen and Damgaard, ‘Parliamentary Opposition under Minority Parliamentarism,46–76.
30. Nerbøvik, Norsk historie 1870–1905; Kent, Concise History of Sweden; Jespersen, A History of Denmark.
31. Alestalo, Hort, and Kuhnle, ‘The Nordic Model’, 10.
32. Bjørnson, ‘The Social Democrats and the Norwegian Welfare State, 204.
33. Briggs, ‘The Welfare State in Historical Perspective’, 221–58; Seip, Utsikt over Norges historie. Tidsrommet 1850–1884, 46.
34. Esping-Anderse, and Korpi, ‘From Poor Relief to Institutional Welfare States’, 34.
35. Korpi, The Working Class in Welfare Capitalism, 43.
36. Rasmussen and Moos, ‘A School for Less Than All in Denmark’, 57–75; Blossing, Imsen, and Moos, ‘Nordic Schools in a Time of Change’, 1–14; Imsen and Volckmar, ‘The Norwegian School for All’, 35–55.
37. Blossing and Söderström, ‘A School for Every Child in Sweden’, 17.
38. Blossing, Imsen, and Moos, The Nordic Education Model.
39. Rinde, Norsk telekommunikasjonshistorie, 23.
40. Rinde, Norsk telekommunikasjonshistorie, 22, 41–2, 45.
41. Kent, Concise History of Sweden, 178, 238; Wistoft, Tyrannisk, men uundværlig, 7, 109; Rinde, Norsk telekommunikasjonshistorie, 48–49, 51.
42. Rinde, Norsk telekommunikasjonshistorie, 59–60.
43. Ibid., 163.
44. Ibid., 246–7.
45. Eide, ‘Den norske vei’, 373; Gustafsson and Rydén, History of the Press in Sweden; Lehrmann, ‘Avisernes offentlige mening’, 69–89.
46. Skirbekk, Multiple Modernities, 32.
47. Bastiansen and Dahl, Norsk mediehistorie, 217–20.
48. Dahl, NRK i fred og krig. Kringkastingen i Norge 1920–1945; Hadenius, Kampen om monopolet: Sveriges radio och TV under 1900-tallet; Weibull, ‘New Media between Technology and Content’, 31–54.
49. Christiansen et al., Nordic Model of Welfare, 71; Ramsøy, ‘From Necessity to Choice’, 76.
50. Christiansen et al., Nordic Model of Welfare, 74–5.
51. Seip, Utsikt over Norges historie, 46.
52. Alestalo, Hort, and Kuhnle, ‘The Nordic Model’, 7; Sträth, ‘Nordic Modernity’; Jónsson, ‘Iceland and the Nordic Model’, 511
53. Sträth, ‘Nordic Modernity’.
54. Lijphart, Patterns of Democracy,quoted in Jónsson, ‘Iceland and the Nordic Model of Consensus Democracy’, 513.
55. Jónsson, ‘Iceland and the Nordic Model’, 513.
56. Dahl and Helseth, To knurrende løver, 133.
57. Bakke, ‘Cultural Policy in Norway’, 147–80.
58. Nymo, ‘Slibrige scener og listige knep’; Drotner, ‘Dangerous Media?’, 593–619.
59. Dahl, NRK i fred og krig, 94–5.
60. Weibull, ‘New Media between Technology and Content’, 36.
61. Hadenius, Kampen om monopolet; Weibull, ‘New Media between Technology and Content’, 37.
62. Dahl, NRK i fred og krig, 91–3.
63. Ibid., 88.
64. Dahl, NRK i fred og krig; Bruhn Jensen, Dansk Mediehistorie; Weibull, ‘New Media between Technology and Content’.
65. Dahl, NRK i fred og krig, 93.
66. Weibull, ‘New Media between Technology and Content’, 39.
67. Dahl, NRK i fred og krig, 96.
68. Ibid., 116.
69. Ibid., 119–20.
70. Dahl and Helseth, To knurrende løver, 162.
71. Christiansen and Markkola, ‘Introduction’, 9.
72. Ibid., 21.
73. Esping-Andersen and Korpi, ‘From Poor Relief to Institutional Welfare States’, 47.
74. Ibid., 49.
75. Seip, Utsikt over Norges historie, 52.
76. Kuhnle and Solheim, ‘Party Programs and the Welfare State’, 66; Ramsøy, ‘From Necessity to Choice,’ 93.
77. Lund and Langholm, Folketrygden; Esping-Andersen and Korpi, ‘From Poor Relief to Institutional Welfare States’, 51.
78. Alestalo and Kuhnle, ‘Scandinavian Route’, 30.
79. Stephens, The Scandinavian Welfare States, 5.
80. Esping-Andersen and Korpi, ‘From Poor Relief to Institutional Welfare States’, 54.
81. Hujanen, Weibull, and Harrie, ‘The Challenges of Public Service Broadcasting in the Nordic Countries’, 17–20.
82. Bastiansen and Dahl, Norsk mediehistorie, 2nd ed., 306–7.
83. Bastiansen and Dahl, Norsk mediehistorie, 2nd ed., 288.
84. Hujanen, Weibull, and Harrie, ‘The Challenges of Public Service Broadcasting in the Nordic Countries’, 19.
85. Ibid, 17.
86. Weibull, ‘New Media between Technology and Content’, 42; Enli et al., From Fear of Television to Fear for Television, 214.
87. Hadenius, Kampen om monopolet; Weibull, ‘New Media between Technology and Content’.
88. Bastiansen and Dahl, Norsk mediehistorie 2nd ed.; Enli et al., From Fear of Television to Fear for Television; Weibull, ‘New Media between Technology and Content’, 44.
89. Bastiansen and Dahl, Norsk mediehistorie, 2nd ed., 360; Hujanen, Weibull, and Harrie, ‘The Challenges of Public Service Broadcasting in the Nordic Countries’, 19.
90. Hujanen, Weibull, and Harrie, ‘The Challenges of Public Service Broadcasting in the Nordic Countries’, 19.
91. Duelund, ‘Cultural Policy in Denmark’, 32; Bakke, ‘Cultural Policy in Norway’, 147; Frenander, Kulturen som kulturpolitikens stora problem, 75.
92. Dahl and Helseth, To knurrende løver, 266–7.
93. Bastiansen and Dahl, Norsk mediehistorie, 2nd ed., 353–4.
94. Ibid., 295–6.
95. Ibid., 298; Weibull, ‘New Media between Technology and Content’, 39, 42.
96. Bastiansen and Dahl, Norsk mediehistorie, 2nd ed., 426.
97. Ibid.
98. Syvertsen et al., Media Welfare State.
99. Bakke, ‘Cultural Policy in Norway’, 150.
100. Hadenius, Kampen om monopolet; Weibull, ‘New Media between Technology and Content’; Enli et al., From Fear of Television to Fear for Television.
101. Jensen, Dansk Mediehistorie; Weibull, ‘New Media between Technology and Content’; Dahl, NRK i fred og krig.
102. Esping-Andersen and Korpi, ‘From Poor Relief to Institutional Welfare States’, 51.
103. Christiansen and Petersen, ‘The Dynamics of Social Solidarity’, 177–96.
104. Bjørnson, ‘Social Democrats and the Norwegian Welfare State’, 219.
105. Ibid., 218.
106. Bjørnson, ‘Social Democrats and the Norwegian Welfare State’, 219; Christiansen and Petersen, ‘Dynamics of Social Solidarity’.
107. Syvertsen et al., Media Welfare State.
108. Enli and Sundet, ‘Strategies in Times of Regulatory Change’, 707–25.
109. Syvertsen, Den store TV-krigen; Enli, ‘Redefining Public Service Broadcasting’, 105–20.
110. Robinson, The Media Welfare State. http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/personer/vit/trinesy/mws_appendix_final.pdf
111. Storsul, ‘Telecom Liberalization’, 203.
112. Enli and Syvertsen, ‘The End of Television—Again!’, 142–53.
113. Benson and Powers, Public Media and Political Independence.
114. Robinson, The Media Welfare State.
115. Brüggemann et al., ‘Hallin and Mancini Revisited’, 1037–65.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Gunn Enli
Gunn Enli is professor of media studies at the Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo. Recent books include Routledge Companion to Social Media and Politics(2017), Mediated Authenticity. How the Media Constructs Reality (2015) and The Media Welfare State (2014). Address: Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo Postboks 1093, Blindern, 0317 Oslo, Norway. [email: [email protected]]
Trine Syvertsen
Trine Syvertsen is professor of media studies at the Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo. Recent books include Media Resistance: Dislike, Protest, Abstention (2017) and The Media Welfare State (2014). Address: Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo Postboks 1093, Blindern, 0317 Oslo, Norway. [email: [email protected]]
Ole J. Mjøs
Ole J. Mjøs is professor in Media Studies at the Department of Information Science and Media Studies, University of Bergen, Norway. He has published widely within the fields of international communication and global medi, and is currently writing the book An Introduction to Global Media (forthcoming, Palgrave Macmillan). Address: Department of Information Science and Media Studies, University of Bergen, Postboks 7802, 5020 Bergen, Norway. [email: [email protected]]