(Im)Possibility of Sustainable Wellbeing in the Nordic Welfare State?

The Nordic welfare states are more equal societies than many others but their ecological footprint is too large, especially from the global perspective. Understandable all sorts of economic growth cannot be infinite on the finite planet. Yet, the growth is presented as it would bring wellbeing for all. Indeed, the different political aims are contested continuously. However, environment or climate issues are too often handled as their own branch in the policy-making without the connection to welfare or wellbeing. A theory of human need gives a ground to examine the role of the institutions and communities when aiming at more sustainable welfare systems.

The paper scrutinizes the capacity of the welfare system to fulfill the needs of social assistance recipients in Finland. The means-tested and last-resort social assistance sets the minimum level for living standard. The theoretical framework bases on Max-Neef’s categorization of needs. According to him, there are two categories: existential and axiological needs. The first one means needs like being, having, doing and interacting; latter refers to nine universal needs. As does Ian Gough, Max-Neef points out that the needs are universal but the satisfiers that fulfill the needs are culturally dependent.

According to the preliminary findings, it seems that the welfare services targeted the social assistance recipients emphasizes needs like having, doing (existential) and subsistence (axiological). At the same time, it fails to support or fulfill the needs of the vulnerable groups as there is lack of understanding about the complexity of wellbeing in the welfare systems that restrain more sustainable alternatives to social policy. The eco-social transformation of the welfare system requires a better understanding about wellbeing. Then conflicts between social policy and climate objectives can be identified more accurately which gives a possibility to formulate legitimate pathways towards the more sustainable welfare state.