Abstract
Childcare in Sweden in the period from the 1930s to the 1970s has been described as a kind of political battlefield. Scholars such as the historian K. G. Hammarlund state that the field developed into a complexity of different factors and social formations, characterized by sharp differences of opinion and conflicts. Children were placed in the crossfire, as Hammarlund says (1998, p. 17). A battle was fought over what was in ‘the best interests of the child’ or what ‘a good childhood’ ought to be. My challenge is, therefore, to search for the trend in some of those dilemmas over childcare, and to determine how they have been solved. Norway, Sweden and Germany are, on the one hand, quite similar regarding childcare arrangements for small children, which make them comparable. On the other hand, they are also different, for example, regarding the role of the state. The three welfare states belong to two different welfare regimes. Norway and Sweden have been classified as representatives of the social democratic type and Germany as the conservative type (Esping-Andersen, 1990). By using a historical perspective on source materials, my aim is to obtain a greater insight into how children, childcare and childhood have been discussed in the post-war period.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Blom, I. and Sogner, S. (1999) Med kjønnsperspektiv på norsk historie (A gender perspective on Norwegian history) (Oslo: Cappelen).
Deutsches Jugendinstitut, Zahlenspiegel (2002) (The German Youth Institute, Database) (Munich).
Esping-Andersen, G. (1990) The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (Cambridge: Polity Press).
Florin, C. and Nilsson, K. (1999) ‘Something in the Nature of a Bloodless Revolution. How New Gender Relations Became Gender Equality Policy in Sweden in the 1960s and 70s’ in R. Torstendahl (ed.) State Policy and Gender System in the Two German States and Sweden 1945–1989 (Lund: Opuscula Historica Upsaliensia vol. 22).
Fure, O.-B. (2001) ‘Nationale Habitusentwicklung in Norwegen und Deutschland. Konstellationen und Grunderfahrungen’ (National habitus development in Norway and Germany. Constellations and basic experiences) in H. Uecker (ed.) Deutsch-Norwegische Kontraste. Spiegelungen europäischer Mentalitätsgeschichte (German-Norwegian contrasts) (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft).
Haavet, I. E. (1999) ‘Framveksten av velferdsstatens familiepolitikk i Norge og Sverige’ (The expansion of the welfare state’s family policy in Norway and Sweden), Tidsskrift for velferdsforskning (Journal for Welfare Research), 2, 67–84.
Hagemann, G. (2005) ‘Housewife and Citizen? Gender Politics in the Post-War Era’ in G. Hagemann and H. Roll-Hansen (eds) Twentieth-Century Housewives. Meanings and Implications of Unpaid Work (Oslo: Unipub).
Hagemann, K., Jarausch, K. H. and Allemann-Ghionda, C. (2011) Children, Families, and States. Time Policies of Childcare, Preschool, and Primary Education in Europe (New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books).
Hagemann, K. 2011 ‘A West German “Sonderweg”? Family, Work and the Half-Day Time Policy of Public Education’ in K. Hagemann, K. H. Jarausch and C. Allemann-Ghionda (eds) Children, Families, and States. Time Policies of Childcare, Preschool, and Primary Education in Europe (New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books).
Hammarlund, K. G. (1998) Barnet och barnomsorgen: Bilden av barnet i ett socialpolitisk projekt (The child and childcare: A picture of the child in a socio-political project) (Diss.) (Gothenburg: University of Gothenburg).
Hatje, A.-K. (1999) ‘Political Meaning of Pedagogic Childcare in the 1930s and 1940s’ Paper at the seminar ‘Alva Myrdal’s Question of Our Time’, 6–8 March 2002, University of Umeaa.
Hatje, A.-K. (2003) ‘Private and Public Welfare: Sweden’s Child Day Care in Comparative Perspective’ in N. Götz and J. Hackmann (eds) Civil Society in the Baltic Sea Region (Aldershot: Ashgate).
Henningsen, B. (1986) Der Wohlfahrtsstaat Schweden in Nordeuropäische Studien. Bd. 2 (The welfare state Sweden. Studies of Northern Europe Vol. 2) (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft).
Hiilamo, H. (2002) The Rise and the Fall of Nordic Family Policy. Historical Development and Changes during the 1990s in Sweden and Finland (Helsinki: Stakes Reports 125).
Jurczyk, K., Olk, T. and Zeiher, H. (2004) ‘German Children’s Welfare Between Economy and Ideology’ in A.-M. Jensen, A. Ben-Arieh, C. Conti, D. Kutsar, M. N. G. Phádraig and H. W. Nielsen (eds) Children’s Welfare in Ageing Europe Vol. II (Trondheim: The Norwegian Centre for Child Research).
Kolbe, W. (2002) Elternschaft im Wohlfahrtsstaat. Schweden und die Bundesrepublik im Vergleich 1945–1995 (Parenthood in the welfare state. A comparison of Sweden and West Germany 1945–2000) (Frankfurt and New York: Campus).
Korsvold, T. (1997) Profesjonalisert barndom: statlige intensjoner og kvinnelig praksis på barnehagens arena 1945–1990 (Professionalized childhood: State intentions and women’s praxis in the day-care arena 1945–1990) (Diss.) (Trondheim: Norwegian University of Science and Technology).
Korsvold, T. (1998) For alle barn. Barnehagens framvekst i velferdsstaten (For all children. Day-care expansion in the welfare state) (Oslo: Abstrakt).
Korsvold, T. (2008) Barn og barndom i velferdsstatens småbarnspolitikk. En sammenlignende studie av Norge, Sverige og Tyskland 1945–2000 (Children and childhood in welfare states’ child-policies. A comparative study of Norway, Sweden and Germany 1945–2000) (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget).
Korsvold, T (2011) ‘The Best Interest of the Child: Early Childhood Education in Norway and Sweden Since 1945’ in K. Hagemann, K. H. Jarausch and C. Allemann-Ghionda (eds) Children, Families, and States. Time Policies of Childcare, Preschool, and Primary Education in Europe (New York and Oxford: Berghan Books).
Komitéen til å urede visse spørsmål om daginstitusjoner m.v. for barn (The committee to unravel certain issues about day institutions etc. for children), oppnevnt ved kgl. res. av 6 mars 1959.
Kristjansson, B. (2006) ‘The Making of Nordic Childhoods’ in J. Einarsdottir and J.Wagner (eds) Nordic Childhoods and Early Education. Philosophy, Research, Policy and Practice in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden (Greenwich: IPA).
Myrdal, A. and Myrdal, G. (1934) Kris i befolkningsfrågan (Crises in the issue of the population) (Stockholm: Bonnier).
Myrdal, A. (1935) Stadsbarn. En bok om deras fostran i storbarnkammare (Town children. How to bring them up in ‘expanded nurseries’) (Stockholm: Bonnier).
Qvortrup, J. and Kjørholt, A. T. (2004) ‘Det moderne barn og det fleksible arbeidsmarked’ (The Modern Child and the Flexible Labour Market), Barn, 1.
Rose, N. (1999) Powers of Freedom. Reframing Political Thought (New York: Cambridge).
Rudberg, M. (1983) Dydige, sterke, lykkelige barn. Ideer om oppdragelse i borgerlig tradisjon (Virtuous, powerful and happy children. Ideas of upbringing in a bourgeois tradition) (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget).
Satka, M. and Eydal, G. B. (2005) ‘The History of Nordic Welfare Policies for Children’ in H. Brembeck, B. Johansson and J. Kampmann (eds) Beyond the Competent Child. Exploring Contemporary Childhoods in the Nordic Welfare Societies (Roskilde: Roskilde University Press).
Sejersted, F. (2005) Sosialdemokratiets tidsalder. Norge og Sverige i det 20. Århundre (The social democratic era. Norway and Sweden in the 20th century) (Oslo: Pax).
SOU (1951) Daghem och förskolor (Day nurseries and preschools) (Stockholm).
SOU (1972) 27 Förskolan Del I I (Preschool Vol. II) (Stockholm).
St. meld. nr. 89 (1961–62) Om retningslinjer for utbygging og drift av daginstitusjoner for barn (Government White Paper No. 89 Rules for building and running day-care institutions for children) (Oslo).
Therborn, G. (1993) ‘The Politics of Childhood. The Rights of Children Since the Constitution of Modern Childhood: A Comparative Study of Western Nations’ in I. F. Castles (ed.) Families of Nations: Patterns of Public Policy in Western Democracy (Dartmouth: Aldershot).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2012 Tora Korsvold
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Korsvold, T. (2012). Dilemmas over Childcare in Norway, Sweden and West Germany after 1945. In: Kjørholt, A.T., Qvortrup, J. (eds) The Modern Child and the Flexible Labour Market. Studies in Childhood and Youth. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230314054_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230314054_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-36796-2
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-31405-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social Sciences CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)