This book offers a detailed account of the way that social democracy today makes sense of capitalism. In particular, it challenges the idea that social democracy has gone ''neoliberal,'' arguing that so-called Third Way policies seem to have brought out new aspects of a thoroughgoing social interventionism with roots deep in the history of social democracy. Author Jenny Andersson expertly develops the claim that what distinguishes today's social democracy from the past is the way that it equates cultural and social values with economic values, which in turn places a premium on individuals who are capable of succeeding in the knowledge economy. Offering an insightful study of Britain's New Labour and Sweden's SAP, and of the political cultural transformations that have taken place in those countries, this is the first book that looks seriously into how the economic, social, and cultural policies of contemporary social democracy fit together to form a particular understanding of capitalism and capitalist politics.
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The Library and the Workshop
The Library and the Workshop Social Democracy and Capitalism in the Knowledge Age Jenny Andersson
Stanford University Press Stanford, California
Stanford University Press Stanford, California ©2010 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. 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 and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Stanford University Press. Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Andersson, Jenny The library and the workshop : social democracy and capitalism in the knowledge age / Jenny Andersson. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8047-6263-2 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Mixed economy—Europe. 2. Human capital—Europe. 3. Knowledge, Sociology of. 4. Europe—Economic conditions—1945– I. Title. HC240.A799 2010 330.12’6094—dc22 2009014490 Typeset by Thompson Type in 10/14 Minion Pro
Contents
Acknowledgments
vii
Introduction
1
1 Dilemmas of Social Democracy
7
2 The Political Economy of Knowledge
24
3 Defining Old and New Times: Origins of the Third Way
43
4 Capitalism?
62
5 Politics of Growth
79
6 Knowledge Societies
97
7 Investing in People
117
8 Creating the Knowledge Individual
133
9 The Future of Social Democracy: Epilogue
148
Notes
161
Index
195
Acknowledgments
I have been working on this book for a rather long time, and I’m grateful to many people for their generous help. Thanks go in particular to Ed Miliband, Patrick Legalès, Olivier Borraz, Chris Howell, Alan Finlayson, Magnus Ryner, Geoff Eley, Peter Hall, Andrew Martin, Jonas Pontusson, Andrew Scott, Mary Hilson, Victor Perez Diaz, Bo Rothstein, and Joakim Palme. I would also like to thank the Swedish Institute for Futures Studies and my colleagues for their interest in this book. As I write the last words, my thoughts go to two wonderful people in a beautiful house in Somerville, Massachusetts, who gave me a home during my stay at Harvard: Ann Gallagher and Frank Roselli.
vii
Introduction
In recent years, much attention has been devoted to the repositioning of social democracy known as the Third Way, particularly in its Anglo-Saxon form, but far less to its place in the history of social democra