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> some politicians in one of the world's most socialist countries, Sweden I almost stopped reading there. Sweden is not socialist, and never has been. Public
by anexprogrammer 11y ago
> some politicians in one of the world's most socialist countries, Sweden
I almost stopped reading there. Sweden is not socialist, and never has been.
Public ownership of production, workers control and management, social equality and a democratic plan of production. Nope, none of those. Just as much privatisation and market forces as other economies.
They just chose to fund their welfare state, education, prison reform and pensions rather better than some others. There's been some drawbacks, but you won't be hearing many renditions of the Red Flag.
- snowwrestler 11y ago"Socialism" in Western political discourse no longer means owning the means of production. It did, once, but that idea was so obviously discredited during the 20th century that no one takes it seriously anymore. So "socialism" today (usually used with some variant of "democracy") has been repurposed to mean a political ideology that values government social support programs over low taxation.
- anexprogrammer 11y agoBy Western do you mean US? I have never once heard it used thus in UK and European news and political discussion. Not even by the Tories attempting to discredit some aspect of the discussion. Perhaps the Daily Mail might, but they're bonkers, and have been since inception. :) You'd probably hear discussion of the Nordic approach use the term "Nordic Model", or rarely "social democracy". They're seeking to remain strictly capitalist but promote more economic security at the same time.