Scandinavian Common Sense : Policies to Tackle Social Inequalities in Health

Dominique Côté, Marie-France Raynault

Description

When some claim austerity is the only answer to today’s economic woes, a close look at the best practices in Scandinavia and Finland gives pause for thought.
Cited as models for their egalitarian social and health policies, these countries also have thriving economies where the gap dividing rich from poor is smaller than elsewhere. Despite their quasi mythic status, the policies implemented to combat inequalities in health are neither well known nor understood.
Policies discussed in Scandinavian Common Sense include education, housing, conciliation of work and family life, daycare, sustainable development and more. For these policies to be part of political debate, be it in Quebec, Canada, the United States or elsewhere, they must be in the public domain. That is the purpose of this book.

Sujets

• Health Issues
• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Dinamarca
• Sweden
• Public policy
• Environment
• Scandinavia
• Finland
• Disease
• Suède
• Norway
• Denmark
• Scandinavie
• Finlande

Informations

• Publié par: Baraka Books
• Date de parution: 03 novembre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781771860659
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Marie-France Raynault and Dominique Côté in collaboration with Sébastien Chartrand
Scandinavian Common Sense
POLICIES TO TACKLE SOCIAL INEQUALITIES IN HEALTH

Montréal
This study was carried out by researchers at the Montreal-based Léa Roback Research Centre on Social Inequalities in Health and supported by a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The Léa Roback Research Centre was financed by the Institute of Population and Public Health as part of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research’s strategic initiative to create centres for research development.
© Baraka Books 2015 Original title: Le bons sens à la scandinave. Politiques et inégalités sociales de santé © 2013 Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means. electronic or mechanical. including photocopying. recording. or by any information storage and retrieval system. without permission in writing from the publisher. ISBN 978-1-77186-064-2 pbk; 978-1-77186-065-9 epub; 978-1-77186-066-6 pdf; 978-1-77186-067-3 mobi/kindle Cover by Folio infographie Book design and epub by Folio infographie Legal Deposit. 4th quarter 2015 Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec Library and Archives Canada Published by Baraka Books of Montreal 6977. rue LacroixMontréal. Québec H4E 2V4 Telephone: [phone] [e-mail] www.barakabooks.com We acknowledge the support from the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles (SODEC) and the Government of Quebec tax credit for book publishing administered by SODEC. We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier. le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.


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CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THE AUTHORS
PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
INTRODUCTION
Research of use to decision-makers
The choice of studying the Nordic countries
Aim and target audience
Methodology
CHAPTER 1
Social Inequalities in Health: a Real and Persistent Problem
Obvious links
Some hypotheses on causality of poverty and illness
A global trend
Widening gaps in Canada
The situation in Quebec
Possible solutions
CHAPTER 2
The Best Strategies for Reducing Social Inequalities in Health
The Netherlands’ program of studies
The WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health
The role of policy in reducing poverty
Sustainable development
CHAPTER 3
The Example of the Nordic Countries
The fight against poverty
Reducing inequalities
Decent living conditions
Sustainable development
CHAPTER 4
The Characteristics of the Nordic Countries’ Policies
Universality and social protection
Prevention first and foremost
Policy integration
The redistribution of wealth
Gender equity as a fundamental principle of public policy
High employment rate and measures for supporting employment
The lifecourse approach
A tradition of consensus
Democracy and power at the local level
Science and social and health research
Unionization and the contribution of unions
Multipartite governments and the proportional voting system
CHAPTER 5
Family and Work-Life Balancing Policies
Policy foundations
Range and flexibility of measures
Policy evaluation
Key ideas
CHAPTER 6
Policies to Support Housing
Key policy principles
Housing assistance measures
Key ideas
CHAPTER 7
Gender Equity Policies
The key principles of gender equity policies
Key ideas
CHAPTER 8
Education Policies
The Swedish preschool system
Key ideas
The Finnish school system
CHAPTER 9
Policies of Social Inclusion
Key policy principles
Policies aimed at vulnerable populations
Key ideas
CHAPTER 10
Sustainable Development at the Local Level
The Nordic model of sustainable development
The strategies of the Nordic capitals
CHAPTER 11
Critical Views on the Nordic Countries’ Policies
Conditions favouring the emergence of Nordic social policies
The viability of the Nordic model
Gaps and unintended effects of certain policies
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to thank the experts with whom we have had the privilege of discussing Scandinavian policies and the complex questions to which they give rise. Henry Milner, a political scientist at the Université de Montréal and, for several years, a visiting professor at Umea University in Sweden, has been an extraordinary teacher over the years. Joakim Palme, a professor at the SOFI Centre of Stockholm University, and Irene Wennemo, formerly policies officer with the Swedish Trade Union Confederation, generously agreed to share their time and knowledge with us during interviews conducted in their country.
We thank Sébastien Chartrand, Ph.D., a researcher at the Léa Roback Centre, who co-wrote Chapter 8 while carrying out a field study on education in Sweden.
We are also grateful to the late Paul Bernard, the distinguished Université de Montréal sociologist, with whom this project began.
We thank, too, the Comprendre Montréal think tank, which helped us select for study those policies of most interest to Montreal-based decision-makers, as well as Isabelle Thérien for their invaluable help. Finally, we are grateful to Robin Philpot and Sean McCutcheon for their help with editing and translation.
PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION
It is becoming increasingly clear that despite its impressive history of producing conceptual models and written documents about the importance of addressing social inequalities in health through public policy action, Canada does not do very well in implementing this vision. In contrast, the Nordic nations have achieved worldwide recognition for their success in building upon principles of human rights, social equity, and the importance of democratic participation to put into practice a wide range of public policies that promote the health and well-being of all of their residents. This excellent book provides an accessible but thorough overview of many of these public policy accomplishments.
These actions have taken place in the spheres of equitably distributing income and wealth, securing employment and improving workplace conditions, promoting early child development and family-friendly policies, assuring access to housing, education, and acting to improve gender equity and reduce social exclusion. In short, improving the quality and equitable distribution of the social determinants of health. As a result they have produced societies where economic and social security is provided to all of their members. Not surprisingly, they have also created societies where overall health is excellent and quality of life is high. The Nordic nations accomplish this at the same time as their economic performance in terms of economic growth and employment levels equals or out-performs Canada.
In addition to its thorough overview of equity-promoting public policy related to the important social determinants of health, the book’s emphasis on the Nordic approach towards sustainable development is particularly innovative and useful. Nordic nations’ efforts in this area are remarkable and closely related to their achievements in the other public policy areas detailed in this book. Environmental issues have generally been overlooked in analyses of how public policies can promote the health and well-being of the population in general and the vulnerable in particular.
The most striking conclusion to be drawn from this overview of public policy in the Nordic nations is that their governing authorities – with the full support and democratic participation of their public – believe in implementing public policies that improve rather than threaten the health and quality of life of their residents. They do this on the basis of the best available evidence and with a vision that asserts that even in an era of economic globalization, government, labour, business, and civil society can work together to improve the lives of people.
The vision of creating healthy and responsive societies is especially prominent in the Nordic nations, and this book does an excellent job of showing how to implement such a vision. I would note however that it is also present in the conservative nations of continental Europe where even without the strong historical influence of social democratic parties of the left, governments strive to promote the security and well-being of their members. It is a sad commentary that the public policy situation in Canada – e.g., growing income and wealth inequality, growth in precarious work, mediocre health and well-being of children, lack of national strategies for addressing food insecurity and housing insecurity, and consistently high and deepening levels of poverty – has fallen so far behind these other nations.
This excellent book seeks to rectify the Canadian situation by providing analysis of some of the macro-level factors shaping equity-promoting public policy in the Nordic nations such as intersectoral cooperation and the presence of proportional representation in the electoral process, meso-level descriptions of how Nordic nations develop and implement their public policies, and micro-level findings of the effects these public policies have on the population in general and the vulnerable in particular. It is thoughtful, comprehensive, and sure to enlighten.
While the provision of this information to Canadians will be absolutely essential in seeing its content applied to the Canadian scene, this will in itself not lead to the kinds of public policies necessary to promote