Abstract
Although the Great Recession of 2008 did not hit Sweden much, very many people perceived that the Swedish economy was suffering a crisis. This chapter investigates this phenomenon and demonstrates that men perceived the presence of a very serious economic crisis significantly more than women; those with lower income and own experience of crisis perceived the presence of crisis more than others; and supporters of the radical right party (Sweden Democrats) perceived the severe crisis more often than supporters of other parties. While our analysis does not allow making a causal argument, it is suggested that the perceived seriousness of crisis might be more related to the distrust toward authorities than the real experience of economic downturn.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Notes
- 1.
It should be recalled that the Swedish economy was restructured considerably during the 1990s, when the country experienced a truly serious economic crisis (Jensen and Davidsen 2016).
- 2.
In the case of media coverage, there is some dispute, as Shehata and Falasca (2014) demonstrate that negative crisis-priming in the media had no effect on public approval of the government in Sweden.
- 3.
One could also use a measure related to worsened job conditions, but issues like reduction of pay, unpaid overwork, increased workload, and so forth, apply only to employed respondents and thereby reduce the sample. The question wording used here was as follows: “In the past 5 years, have you or anyone else in your household had to take any of the following measures for financial/economic reasons?”
- 4.
Prior studies also note that SD supporters have little political trust and tend to have a more authoritarian than libertarian value position and that the left-right ideology plays much less of a role in their identity than trust and authoritarian values do (Oskarson and Demker 2015).
References
Anderson, C. J. (2007). The End of Economic Voting? Contingency Dilemmas and the Limits of Democratic Accountability. Annual Review of Political Science, 10, 271–296.
Anderson, C. J., & Hecht, J. D. (2014). Crisis of Confidence? Dynamics of Economic Opinions During the Great Recession. In N. Bermeo & L. Bartels (Eds.), Mass Politics in Tough Times: Opinions, Votes and Protest in the Great Recession (pp. 40–72). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Asp, K. (2011). Mediernas prestationer och betydelse: Valet 2010. Göteborg: Institutionen för journalistik, medier och kommunikation, Göteborgs universitet.
Berg, L., & Oscarsson, H. (2015). The Swedish General Election 2014. Electoral Studies, 38, 82–136.
Blomqvist, S., Burström, B., & Backhans, M. C. (2014). Increasing Health Inequalities Between Women in and Out of Work—The Impact of Recession or Policy Change? A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study in Stockholm County, 2006 and 2010. International Journal for Equity in Health, 13(1), 1.
Burns, W. J., Peters, E., & Slovic, P. (2012). Risk Perception and the Economic Crisis: A Longitudinal Study of the Trajectory of Perceived Risk. Risk Analysis, 32(4), 659–677.
Burström, B., Nylen, L., Barr, B., Clayton, S., Holland, P., & Whitehead, M. (2012). Delayed and Differential Effects of the Economic Crisis in Sweden in the 1990s on Health-Related Exclusion from the Labour Market: A Health Equity Assessment. Social Science & Medicine, 75(12), 2431–2436.
Cylus, J., & Pearson, M. (2015). The Crisis and Its Implications for Household Financial Security, Government Resources and Health Expenditure. Economic Crisis, Health Systems and Health in Europe. Impact and Implications for Policy (pp. 17–50). Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Duch, R. M., & Stevenson, R. (2010). The Global Economy, Competency, and the Economic Vote. The Journal of Politics, 72(01), 105–123.
Duch, R. M., Palmer, H. D., & Anderson, C. J. (2000). Heterogeneity in Perceptions of National Economic Conditions. American Journal of Political Science, 44, 635–652.
Duch, R. M., & Sagarzazu, I. (2014). Crisis Perceptions and Economic Voting Among the Rich and the Poor. In N. Bermeo & L. Bartels (Eds.), Mass Politics in Tough Times: Opinions, Votes and Protest in the Great Recession (pp. 224–260). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Färm, K.-A., Jendel, L., & Nord, L. (2012). Bilden av finanskrisen. En studie av svenska mediers nyhetsrapportering hösten 2008. Demicom nr 9. Mittuniversitetet, Sundsvall. ISBN: 978–91–87103-54-4.
Financial Times. (2011, November 22). 2011 FT Ranking of European Finance Ministers—Anders Borg.
Fraile, M., & Pardos-Prado, S. (2014). Correspondence Between the Objective and Subjective Economies: The Role of Personal Economic Circumstances. Political Studies, 62(4), 895–912.
Hammarström, A., Gustafsson, P. E., Strandh, M., Virtanen, P., & Janlert, U. (2011). It’s No Surprise! Men Are Not Hit More Than Women by the Health Consequences of Unemployment in the Northern Swedish Cohort. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 39, 187–193.
Hellström, A., Nilsson, T., & Stoltz, P. (2012). Nationalism Vs. Nationalism: The Challenge of the Sweden Democrats in the Swedish Public Debate. Government and Opposition, 47(2), 186–205.
Jensen, L., & Davidsen, S. (2016). The Global Financial Crisis in Denmark and Sweden: A Case of Crisis Management ‘Lite’. In John Wanna, Evert A. Lindquist, & Jouke de Vries (eds.) The Global Financial Crisis and Its Budget Impacts in OECD Nations: Fiscal Responses and Future Challenges (p. 174–204). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Kalogeropoulos, A., Albæk, E., de Vreese, C. H., & van Dalen, A. (2017). News Priming and the Changing Economy: How Economic News Influences Government Evaluations. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 29(2):269–290.
Lewis-Beck, M. S., & Paldam, M. (2000). Economic Voting: An Introduction. Electoral Studies, 19(2), 113–121.
Livewhat D1.2. (2014). Working Paper on Definition and Identification of Crises. Accessible at: http://www.livewhat.unige.ch/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/LIVEWHAT_D1.2.pdf
Livewhat D2.3. (2014). Integrated Report on Policy Responses to Crises. Accessible at: http://www.livewhat.unige.ch/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/LIVEWHAT_D2.3.pdf
Livewhat D2.4. (2014). Integrated Report on Policy Responses to Crises. Accessible at: http://www.livewhat.unige.ch/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/LIVEWHAT_D2.4.pdf
Lorentzen, T., Angelin, A., Dahl, E., Kauppinen, T., Moisio, P., & Salonen, T. (2014). Unemployment and Economic Security for Young Adults in Finland, Norway and Sweden: From Unemployment Protection to Poverty Relief. International Journal of Social Welfare, 23(1), 41–51.
Mailand, M., & Hansen, N. W. (2016). 9 Denmark and Sweden: The Consequences of Reform and Economic Crisis for Public Service Employment Relations. In Public Service Management and Employment Relations in Europe: Emerging from the Crisis (p. 218). New York: Routledge.
Niemi, R. G., Bremer, J., & Heel, M. (1999). Determinants of State Economic Perceptions. Political Behavior, 21(2), 175–193.
Nord, L., & Shehata, A. (2013). Finanskrisen, förväntningarna och förtroendet. DEMICOM Report.
Novo, M., Hammarström, A., & Janlert, U. (2001). Do High Levels of Unemployment Influence the Health of Those Who Are Not Unemployed? A Gendered Comparison of Young Men and Women During Boom and Recession. Social Science & Medicine, 53(3), 293–303.
Oskarson, M., & Demker, M. (2015). Room for Realignment: The Working-Class Sympathy for Sweden Democrats. Government and Opposition, 50(04), 629–651.
Pardos-Prado, S., & Sagarzazu, I. (2014). The Political Conditioning of Subjective Economic Evaluations: The Role of Party Discourse. British Journal of Political Science, 46(4), 799–823.
Ragnarsdóttir, B. H., Bernburg, J. G., & Ólafsdóttir, S. (2013). The Global Financial Crisis and Individual Distress: The Role of Subjective Comparisons After the Collapse of the Icelandic Economy. Sociology, 47(4), 755–775.
Ringmar, E. (2016). Flyktingkris i den svenska dagspressen. En analys av 2015 års viktigaste begreppsförskjutning (MA Thesis at Lund University). Accessible at: http://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile&recordOId=8873153&fileOId=8873169
Sargent-Cox, K., Butterworth, P., & Anstey, K. J. (2011). The Global Financial Crisis and Psychological Health in a Sample of Australian Older Adults: A Longitudinal Study. Social Science & Medicine, 73(7), 1105–1112.
SCB. (2016). Arbetslöshet tog fart under finanskrisen. Accessible at: http://www.sverigeisiffror.scb.se/hitta-statistik/sverige-i-siffror/samhallets-ekonomi/arbetslosheten/
Shehata, A., & Falasca, K. (2014). Priming Effects During the Financial Crisis: Accessibility and Applicability Mechanisms Behind Government Approval. European Political Science Review, 6(04), 597–620.
Singer, M. (2011). When Do Voters Actually Think ‘It’s the Economy’? Evidence from the 2008 Presidential Campaign. Electoral Studies, 30(4), 621–632.
Smith, H. J., & Huo, Y. J. (2014). Relative Deprivation How Subjective Experiences of Inequality Influence Social Behavior and Health. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1(1), 231–238.
Svenska Dagbladet. (2011, March 04). Leif Petersen. Borg har gott hopp om arbetsmarknaden.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Uba, K. (2018). Critical Men? Perceptions of Crisis Without Crisis in Sweden. In: Giugni, M., Grasso, M. (eds) Citizens and the Crisis. Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68960-9_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68960-9_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-68959-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-68960-9
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)