Welfare State Propaganda

by Nima Sanandaji, Patrik M. Andersson, and Fredrik Segerfeldt
by Nima Sanandaji, Patrik M. Andersson, and Fredrik Segerfeldt

One of the most important roles of the big state seems to be to form public opinion for the big state. In the recently published book Beyond the European Social Model, Martin De Vlieghere discusses the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel. The think tank is a Franco-German government initiative and receives funding from EU governments and corporations. According to De Vlieghere Bruegel has used flawed research to form opinion in favour of the Scandinavian welfare system model.

One might wonder how government endorsement of political ideology with taxpayers’ money fits into a democratic system. Or why other EU states have to propagate the Scandinavian welfare system when our governments are doing a good job at this themselves.

Recently we published a report for the think tank Timbro that managed to expose one of the most obvious ways in which publicly financed education is used in Sweden to advance the ideas of the social democratic left and their labor union allies.

Each year more than 40 000 immigrants in Sweden participate in a government sponsored education program that goes by the name "Swedish for Immigrants." The purpose of this education is to give the students knowledge not only about the Swedish language, but also about Swedish society. In our report we examined some of the literature used in this education and found that they tended to literally indoctrinate the students with socialist ideas.

A good example is the book "Från början – Svenska för vuxna nybörjare." The book is written for immigrants and adult illiterates and is based on ten very short texts which look at different daily events in a typical Swedish life. Apparently, socialist demonstrations are one of them:

"The first of May is the day of the workers. Jim and Johan are marching in a demonstration. They have red flags in their hands. Some are carrying large banderoles. Johan reads – work, peace, freedom, solidarity, struggle… Johan does not understand all of the words. He asks his father and the father explains."

No, this is not a North Korean schoolbook. The above quote is in fact rather typical for the content in the ten books used in Swedish for Immigrants that we have looked at. The material can be about how a person convinces her friend to join the next labor union meeting, or how an immigrant discusses the correlation between high taxes and modern schools and hospitals. The books suggest that those that work against the Swedish welfare system will live in misery and they highlight only socialist politicians. Below is how the daily life of a typical Swedish businessman is portrayed in the book "Min mening":

"He wakes up and goes down to the pool. He swims 1 000 meters. Then he rings a bell and a butler comes and serves him breakfast. He is handed juice, tea, freshly baked bread, cheese and jam – all on a silver tray. After breakfast he puts on his clothes. He chooses among suites, shirts and ties. All clothes are very exclusive. Then he drives to town in his luxurious car. He works in the office the entire morning. After lunch he flies to London. He will sell a house in England. He wants to make money – more money.

At the airplane he buys perfume for his wife. He thinks about her. She wants to have a child. She always talks about children and complains that she gets bored during the days. He does not understand why. She has everything: jewelery, clothes, several houses in different countries and a rich husband.

He does not want children. He does not have time for children. He wants to make money. Money, work and a beautiful wife are everything in life – and a new, fast car!"

How much sympathy would you have for the average businessman if this is what you read after you have just arrived in Sweden as an immigrant?

Another common form of bias that we found in our study is the description of Swedish history. A good example is the following text from "Mål 1":

"In the 19^th century people in Sweden were very poor and had to struggle in order to attain food and clothes. The average lifespan was 47 years. Many died in tuberculosis and many children died before the age of one. In total one million Swedes emigrated to the American continent. Only between 1880 and 1890 more than 325 000 Swedes travelled to the USA to start a new life there. In the 1880s railroads were built in Sweden and we started using telephones. The workers got organized in labor unions and the Social Democratic Party was founded in 1889. Today the lifespan for a Swedish man is 75 years and a Swedish woman in averages lives 80 years.

Notice the remarkable development that occurred as the workers started joining labor unions and the Social Democratic Party was founded. Sweden went from being an impoverished nation and people could live almost twice as long. Now who would you vote for if you were a Swedish immigrant that had participated in this course? A likely answer is the Social Democratic Party, or perhaps another of the left parties in Sweden.

When Statistics Sweden asked people of different origins which party they voted for 90 percent of those born in a country outside Europe responded that they had voted for a party in the leftwing coalition. Fully 54 per cent had voted for the Social Democratic Party. Although these figures might be affected by a low number of respondents, they show a very strong left-leaning tendency among a group where many have undergone courses in Swedish for Immigrants.

That the public sectors in welfare states forms opinion in favor of welfare policies might be a widespread problem. But nowhere in the democratic west does it seem to be more evident than in Sweden. Now we know why.

April 7, 2006

Nima Sanandaji [send him mail] is president of the Swedish think tank Captus and the editor of Captus Journal. He is a graduate student in biochemistry at the University of Cambridge. Patrik M. Andersson is a fellow at Captus and a student in Gothenburg, Sweden. Fredrik Segerfeldt is a program director at the Swedish think tank Timbro and author of Water for Sale: How Businesses and the Market Can Resolve the World’s Water Crisis.

Copyright © 2006 LewRockwell.com

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