The Lutheran Imaginary That Underpins Social Democracy

Abstract

Scandinavian social democracy is increasingly upheld as an alternative that could reform capitalism. The Nordic Model produces income equality, low-conflict politics, and happy people. When half of young Americans express that they would prefer “socialism,” they generally mean to live in a society that provides for its citizens as the Nordics do. Such aspirations are complicated by how social democracy can be viewed as a secularized form of Lutheranism, the Protestant creed that the Nordic region embraced in the 16th century. Lutheran norms and values carried into the modern era and made possible social democracy's two distinguishing features: fascist corporatism and socialist redistribution. A strong state facilitates statist individualism, which empowers individuals vis-à-vis employers, parents, and spouses. The outcome could be cross-culturally salient, as it brings people closer to our species' fission-fusion baseline. Yet in the modern environment, only Nordics seem to have a cultural imaginary that makes compelling the politics that drive such high levels of both productivity and egalitarianism. The region's storytelling reflects this Lutheran past and is used to negotiate modern adaptations. A better understanding of social democracy could help prevent that demands for “socialism” motivate a turn to actual socialism.

Strategies of prosociality: Comparing Nordic and Slavonic altruism toward Ukrainian refugees

“…Positive psychology has relied almost exclusively on quantitative research. If well-being is not best understood as a consequence of life factors, but from how individuals interpret and adapt to evolutionarily evolved signals, states Nesse (2005) , “survey studies of well-being will overlook most of what is important.” He concludes that “implications for methodology are severe [as] only narrative includes information detailed and idiographic enough to allow a real understanding of an individual’s life.” This insight informs our qualitative approach which combines in-depth semi-structured interviews, narrative analysis, and our previous work on the cultural history of the Nordic and Slavonic regions (e.g., Witoszek, 2007 , 2011 , 2019 ; Witoszek and Midttun, 2018 ; Larsen, 2021 , 2022 ).…”

“…He concludes that "implications for methodology are severe [as] only narrative includes information detailed and idiographic enough to allow a real understanding of an individual's life. " This insight informs our qualitative approach which combines in-depth semi-structured interviews, narrative analysis, and our previous work on the cultural history of the Nordic and Slavonic regions (e.g., Witoszek, 2007Witoszek, , 2011Witoszek, , 2019Witoszek and Midttun, 2018;Larsen, 2021Larsen, , 2022.…”

Enough with the incels! A literary cry for help from female insings (involuntary single).

“…Sigurd is an exceptionally disadvantaged protagonist, a type of super underdog particularly dear to Scandinavian audiences (Larsen, 2021(Larsen, , 2023a. He lacks much of what attracts women to a man, especially in short-term markets.…”

Evolutionary Perspectives on Enhancing Quality of Life

“…The path to the Nordic well-being society is a result of many cultural, economic, and geopolitical factors (Larsen, 2021(Larsen, , 2022Witoszek & Midttun, 2018). From an evolutionary point of view, scale, size, and the dominant cultural ethos have been important.…”