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Understanding Civic Engagement in the Scandinavian Context

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Civic Engagement in Scandinavia

Part of the book series: Nonprofit and Civil Society Studies ((NCSS))

Abstract

This chapter provides an introduction to civic engagement in Scandinavia. The chapter accounts for the institutional background of the popular mass movements, the welfare state and the negotiated market economies in the Scandinavian countries. We argue that the combination of these institutions feed into a combination of supply and demand mechanisms that are necessary to comprehend in order to understand not only the levels of civic engagement but also the structure and composition of the organized parts of civil society. Further, we discuss the internal variations between the Scandinavian civil societies and the most important challenges for civil society and voluntary associations in this context. Finally, we provide an overview of the logic and structure of this book.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In building this argument, we are indebted to Kirsten Grønbjerg’s ideas made in her plenary panel presentation at the ISTR conference, Stockholm, 2016.

  2. 2.

    There were important exceptions to this, such as ethnic minority groups, poor people, substance abusers, etc. (see for instance Trägårdh & Svedberg, 2013).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Social Work, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Lars Skov Henriksen

  2. Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Kristin Strømsnes

  3. Institute for Civil Society Research, Ersta Sköndal Bräcke University College, Stockholm, Sweden

    Lars Svedberg

Authors
  1. Lars Skov Henriksen
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  2. Kristin Strømsnes
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  3. Lars Svedberg
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Correspondence to Lars Skov Henriksen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Social Work, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Lars Skov Henriksen

  2. Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Kristin Strømsnes

  3. Institute for Civil Society Research, Ersta Sköndal Bräcke University College, Stockholm, Sweden

    Lars Svedberg

Appendix 1.1

Appendix 1.1

Bar graph of EU income and living survey in different parts of Europe.

Source: Eurostat. EU Income and Living Survey (SILC), 2016.

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Henriksen, L.S., Strømsnes, K., Svedberg, L. (2019). Understanding Civic Engagement in the Scandinavian Context. In: Henriksen, L.S., Strømsnes, K., Svedberg, L. (eds) Civic Engagement in Scandinavia. Nonprofit and Civil Society Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98717-0_1

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