Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Chapter 8: Gunnar Myrdal on Social Vulnerability

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Alternative Ideas from 10 (Almost) Forgotten Economists

Abstract

This chapter discusses the work of Gunnar Myrdal, the Swedish economist who was as one of the founders of the Swedish welfare state. His work centres around discrimination and resilience. His insights are important for understanding why disadvantaged groups show the least resilience during a crisis, but also why well-meaning government policies may make matters worse. For that reason, he sees not only a solution in the state, but also within households, through labour unions and more political space for disadvantaged groups to express their voices. His theory of cumulative causation reflects insights from systems theory and emphasizes feedback effects of discrimination in labour markets, education and informal institutions (such as social norms). The remedy is, according to Myrdal, resilient institutions at the aggregate level of the economy instead of micro-level policies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 19.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 29.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    https://stats.oecd.org/. Accessed on July 15, 2020.

  2. 2.

    The OECD definition of social support is having friends or relatives to count on in times of trouble.

  3. 3.

    Eun Jeong Nam and Jong-Eun Lee, “Mediating Effects of Social Support on Depression and Suicidal Ideation in Older Korean Adults with Hypertension who Live Alone,” The Journal of Nursing Research 27, 3 e20 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1097/jnr.0000000000000292. Accessed on July 15, 2020.

  4. 4.

    Hyungchul Park, Il-Young Jang, Hea yon Lee, Hee-Won Jung, Eunju Lee and Dae Hyun Kim, “Screening Value of Social Frailty and its Association with Physical Frailty and Disability in Community-Dwelling Older Koreans: Aging Study of PyeongChang Rural Area,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16, 2809 (2019). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16162809. Accessed on July 15, 2020.

  5. 5.

    https://data.oecd.org/inequality/poverty-rate.htm. Accessed on July 15, 2020.

  6. 6.

    Boyoung Jeon, Haruko Noguchi, Soonman Kwon, Tomoko Ito, and Nanako Tamiya, “Disability, Poverty and Role of Basic Livelihood Security System on Health Services Utilization among the Elderly in South Korea,” Social Science & Medicine 178 (2017): 175–183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.02.013. Accessed on July 15, 2020.

  7. 7.

    Minsung Sohn, Patricia O”Campo, Carles Muntaner, Haejoo Chung and Mankyu Choi, “Has the Long-term Care Insurance Resolved Disparities in Mortality for Older Koreans? Examination of Service Type and Income Level,” Social Science & Medicine 247, 112812 (2020).

  8. 8.

    Sujin Kim and S.V. Subramanian, “Income Volatility and Depressive Symptoms among Elderly Koreans,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Health 16, 19 (2019). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16193580. Accessed on June 26, 2020.

  9. 9.

    SCP, Armoede in kaart 2019 (Den Haag: Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau, 2019). https://digitaal.scp.nl/armoedeinkaart2019/de-omvang-van-armoede/. Accessed on March 31, 2020.

  10. 10.

    Wil Portegijs and Marion van den Brakel, “Emancipatiemonitor 2018” (Den Haag: Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau, 2018). https://digital.scp.nl/emancipatiemonitor2018/. Accessed on March 31, 2020.

  11. 11.

    Ans Merens and Freek Bucx, “Werken aan de start. Jonge vrouwen en mannen op de arbeidsmarkt” (Den Haag: Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau, 2018).

  12. 12.

    Guy Standing, The Precariat—the New Dangerous Class (New York: Bloomsbury, 2011). See also a blog by Guy Standing, “Meet the Precariat, the New Social Class Fuelling the Rise of Populaism.” November 9, 2016. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/11/precariat-global-class-rise-of-populism/. Accessed on July 15, 2020. David Graeber has also written an interesting book about this phenomenon, to which he refers as bullshit jobs: David Graeber, Bullshit Jobs – a Theory (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2018).

  13. 13.

    For an introduction to this, see: Ping Chen, “Equilibrium Illusion, Economic Complexity and Evolutionary Foundation in Economic Analysis,” Evolutionary Institutional Economic Review 5, 1 (2008): 81–127.

  14. 14.

    This is precisely what social movements such as #MeToo and Black Lives Matter emphasize: the privilege that is often taken for granted by the dominant group – men and the white population in the case of these movements.

  15. 15.

    Gyuchan Kim, “The Patterns of “Care Migrantization” in South Korea,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 44, 13 (2018): 2286–2302.

  16. 16.

    Arlie Hochschild, “Global Care Chains and Emotional Surplus Value,” in On The Edge: Living with Global Capitalism, edited by Will Hutton and Anthony Giddens (London: Jonathan Cape, 2000: 130–146).

  17. 17.

    Ans Merens and Freek Bucx, “Werken aan de Start – Jonge Vrouwen en Mannen op de Arbeidsmarkt” (Den Haag: Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau, 2018). https://www.scp.nl/publicaties/publicaties/2018/01/22/werken-aan-de-start. Accessed on April 2, 2020.

  18. 18.

    In the Netherlands for example, several large home care organizations have gone bankrupt over the past decade: TSN, Diafaan, Solace, Thebe, and Thuiszorg Noord-Holland. It implies job losses and waiting lists and inadequate care for tens of thousands of patients, in majority frail elderly: https://www.zorgwelzijn.nl/thuiszorgorganisaties-failliet-door-bezuinigingen-gemeenten/. Accessed on April 28, 2020.

  19. 19.

    OPAGA, “Report No. 10-33” (Tallahassee: OPAGA, 2010). http://elderaffairs.state.fl.us/doea/Evaluation/The%20State%20Could%20Consider%20Several%20Options%20to%20Maximize%20%20Its%20Use%20of%20Funds%20for%20Medicaid%20Home%20and%20Community-Based%20Services.pdf. Accessed on April 28, 2020.

  20. 20.

    Larry Polivka and Baozhen Luo, “Neoliberal Long-Term Care: from Community to Corporate Control,” The Gerontologist 59, 2 (2019): 222–229, p. 227.

  21. 21.

    Leire Gartzia, Maria Eugenis Sánchez-Vidal and David Cegarra-Leiva, “Male Leaders with Paternity Leaves: effects of work norms on effectiveness evaluations,” European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology 27, 6 (2018): 793–808.

  22. 22.

    See, for example, Richard Torraco, “Economic Inequality, Educational Inequity, and Reduced Career Opportunity: A Self-perpetuating Cycle?,” New Horizons in Adult Education & Human Resource Management 30, 1 (2018): 19–29; D. Massey, Categorically Unequal: The American Stratification System (New York: Russel Sage, 2008).

  23. 23.

    The civil movements of Black Lives Matter and #MeToo may be examples of such voices that help to change discriminatory norms. They are not immediately economic but have important economic impacts, on employment, wages, status, security and wellbeing.

  24. 24.

    Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma – the negro problem and modern democracy (New York: Harper, 1944).

  25. 25.

    Gunnar Myrdal, Asian Drama – an inquiry into the poverty of nations (New York: Pantheon, 1968). In a column by the well-known Indian development economist on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the book, Ravi Kanbur argued that although Myrdal’s prediction of misery did not come true, the book contains important analytical insights for today’s development economics: Ravi Kanbur, “Gunnar Myrdal and “Asian Drama” in context”, VOX, 9 March (2018). https://voxeu.org/article/gunnar-myrdal-and-asian-drama-context. Accessed on June 26, 2020.

  26. 26.

    See the Review of Social Economy of by the Association for Social Economics, which was created in 1941: https://socialeconomics.org/about/history/. Accessed on May 10, 2020.

  27. 27.

    Tony Sheldon, “Buurtzorg: the district nurses who want to be superfluous,” British Medical Journal 358, j3140 (2017). https://doi-org.eur.idm.oclc.org/10.1136/bmj.j3140. Accessed on May 11, 2020.

  28. 28.

    Karen Monsen and Jos de Blok, “Buurtzorg: Nurse-led Community Care,” Creative Nursing 19, 3 (2013): 122–127.

  29. 29.

    https://www.hpbbnieuws.nl/?p=721. Accessed on May 11, 2020.

  30. 30.

    Françoise Johansen and Suzanne van den Bosch, “The Scaling-Up of Neighbourhood Care: from experiment towards a transformative movement in healthcare,” Futures 89 (2017): 60–73.

  31. 31.

    https://eige.europa.eu/gender-equality-index/2019/SE. Accessed on May 12, 2020.

  32. 32.

    Åsa Lundqvist, “Activating Women in the Swedish Model,” Social Politics 22, 1 (2015): 111–132.

  33. 33.

    https://eige.europa.eu/gender-mainstreaming/good-practices/sweden/promoting-full-time-employment. Accessed on May 12, 2020.

  34. 34.

    See for these data the website of Eurostat: https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=demo_frate&lang=en. Accessed on July 21, 2020.

  35. 35.

    For an analysis of the declining fertility rate among women with a nonwestern migration background, see: Marianne Tønnessen, “Declined Total Fertility Rate among Immigrants and the Role of Newly Arrived Women in Norway,” European Journal of Population 36, 2020: 547–573. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-019-09541-0. Accessed on July 21, 2020.

  36. 36.

    Alva Myrdal, Nation and the Family – The Swedish Experiment in Democratic Family band Population Policy (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1941).

Bibliography

  • Chen, Ping. “Equilibrium Illusion, Economic Complexity and Evolutionary Foundation in Economic Analysis.” Evolutionary Institutional Economic Review 5, 1 (2008): 81–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gartzia, Leire, Maria Eugenis Sánchez-Vidal, and David Cegarra-Leiva. “Male Leaders with Paternity Leaves: effects of work norms on effectiveness evaluations.” European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology 27, 6 (2018): 793–808.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graeber, David. Bullshit Jobs – a Theory. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2018.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeon, Boyoung, Haruko Noguchi, Soonman Kwon, Tomoko Ito, and Nanako Tamiya. “Disability, Poverty and Role of Basic Livelihood Security System on Health Services Utilization among the Elderly in South Korea.” Social Science & Medicine 178 (2017): 175–183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.02.013. Accessed on July 15, 2020.

  • Johansen, Françoise, and Suzanne van den Bosch. “The Scaling-Up of Neighbourhood Care: from experiment towards a transformative movement in healthcare.” Futures 89 (2017): 60–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanbur, Ravi. “Gunnar Myrdal and ‘Asian Drama’ in context.” VOX, 9 March 2018. https://voxeu.org/article/gunnar-myrdal-and-asian-drama-context. Accessed on June 26, 2020.

  • Kim, Gyuchan. “The Patterns of ‘Care Migrantization’ in South Korea.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 44, 13 (2018): 2286–2302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, Sujin, and S.V. Subramanian. “Income Volatility and Depressive Symptoms among Elderly Koreans.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Health 16, 19 (2019). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16193580. Accessed on June 26, 2020.

  • Lundqvist, Åsa. “Activating Women in the Swedish Model.” Social Politics 22, 1 (2015): 111–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Massey, Douglas. Categorically Unequal: The American Stratification System. New York: Russel Sage, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merens, Ans, and Freek Bucx. “Werken aan de start. Jonge vrouwen en mannen op de arbeidsmarkt.” Den Haag: Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau, 2018.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— “Werken aan de Start – Jonge Vrouwen en Mannen op de Arbeidsmarkt.” Den Haag: Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau, 2018. https://www.scp.nl/publicaties/publicaties/2018/01/22/werken-aan-de-start. Accessed on April 2, 2020.

  • Monsen, Karen, and Jos de Blok. “Buurtzorg: Nurse-led Community Care.” Creative Nursing 19, 3 (2013): 122–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myrdal, Alva. Nation and the Family – The Swedish Experiment in Democratic Family band Population Policy. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1941.

    Google Scholar 

  • Myrdal, Gunnar. An American Dilemma – the negro problem and modern democracy. New York: Harper, 1944.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— Asian Drama – an inquiry into the poverty of nations. New York: Pantheon, 1968.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hochschild, Arlie. “Global Care Chains and Emotional Surplus Value,” in On the Edge: Living with Global Capitalism, edited by Will Hutton and Anthony Giddens. London: Jonathan Cape, 2000: 130–146.

    Google Scholar 

  • OPAGA. “Report No. 10-33.” Tallahassee: OPAGA, 2010. http://elderaffairs.state.fl.us/doea/Evaluation/The%20State%20Could%20Consider%20Several%20Options%20to%20Maximize%20%20Its%20Use%20of%20Funds%20for%20Medicaid%20Home%20and%20Community-Based%20Services.pdf. Accessed on April 28, 2020.

  • Hyungchul Park, Il-Young Jang, Hea yon Lee, Hee-Won Jung, Eunju Lee, and Dae Hyun Kim. “Screening Value of Social Frailty and its Association with Physical Frailty and Disability in Community-Dwelling Older Koreans: Aging Study of Pyeong Chang Rural Area.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16, 2809, (2019). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16162809. Accessed on July 15, 2020.

  • Polivka, Larry, and Baozhen Luo. “Neoliberal Long-Term Care: from Community to Corporate Control.” The Gerontologist 59, 2 (2019): 222–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Portegijs, Wil, and Marion van den Brakel. “Emancipatiemonitor 2018.” Den Haag: Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau, 2018. https://digital.scp.nl/emancipatiemonitor2018/. Accessed on March 31, 2020.

  • Jeong Nam, Eun, and Jong-Eun Lee. “Mediating Effects of Social Support on Depression and Suicidal Ideation in Older Korean Adults with Hypertension who Live Alone.” The Journal of Nursing Research 27, 3 e20 (2019). https://doi.org/10/1097/jnr.0000000000000292. Accessed on July 15, 2020.

  • SCP. “Armoede in kaart 2019.” Den Haag: Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau, 2019. https://digitaal.scp.nl/armoedeinkaart2019/de-omvang-van-armoede/. Accessed on March 31, 2020.

  • Sheldon, Tony. “Buurtzorg: the district nurses who want to be superfluous.” British Medical Journal 358, j3140 (2017). https://doi-org.eur.idm.oclc.org/10.1136/bmj.j3140. Accessed on May 11, 2020.

  • Sohn, Minsung, Patricia O’Campo, Carles Muntaner, Haejoo Chung, and Mankyu Choi. “Has the Long-term Care Insurance Resolved Disparities in Mortality for Older Koreans? Examination of Service Type and Income Level.” Social Science & Medicine 247, 112812 (2020).

    Google Scholar 

  • Standing, Guy. The Precariat – the New Dangerous Class. New York: Bloomsbury, 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— “Meet the Precariat, the New Social Class Feulling the Rise of Populism.” November 9, 2016. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/11/precariat-global-class-rise-of-populism/. Accessed on July 15, 2020.

  • Tønnessen, Marianne. “Declined Total Fertility Rate among Immigrants and the Role of Newly Arrived Women in Norway,” European Journal of Population 36, 2020: 547–573. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-019-09541-0. Accessed on July 21, 2020.

  • Torraco, Richard. “Economic Inequality, Educational Inequity, and Reduced Career Opportunity: A Self-perpetuating Cycle?,” New Horizons in Adult Education & Human Resource Management 30, 1 (2018): 19–29.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Irene van Staveren

Authors
  1. Irene van Staveren
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Irene van Staveren .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

van Staveren, I. (2021). Chapter 8: Gunnar Myrdal on Social Vulnerability. In: Alternative Ideas from 10 (Almost) Forgotten Economists . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57609-7_9

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57609-7_9

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-57608-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-57609-7

  • eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation