The Welfare State, Social Democracy and the Nation’s Health

Abstract

During the period following the foundation of the post Second World War welfare state, the responsibility for procuring a healthy nation became a part of the role of the state. In this chapter we will be tracing the place of health within three distinctive overarching political discourses. It is important to note that these do not follow a strict chronological order. Elements of one political-cultural discourse can be seen to exist in a previous and a successive one. A specific concern can at one time be marginalised and at another be central, but can be seen to be permanently in existence.