Is the Swede Human? Radical Individualism in the Land of Social Solidarity

In this talk, Trägårdh & Berggren will discuss their book “Är svensken människa?” which claims that the supposedly socialist Swedes are, in fact, individualists in extremis. At the heart of the Swedish social contract lies a deeply rooted conception, what the authors call “a Swedish theory of love,” according to which authentic love and friendship is only possible between individuals who are independent and equal. This moral logic, joining the ideal of independence to those of economic equality and social solidarity, has been institutionalized in modern Sweden through the radical alliance between the individual and the state, which the authors term “statist individualism.”