Hans Swärd

Professor emeritus

Porträtterad nöd - berättelser om hemlösa

Författare

Hans Swärd

Summary, in English

The Swedish welfare state has undergone structural changes in the last few decades, involving various cutback programmes and the decentralization of public service to the municipalities, with a shift from universal to more means-tested rights. Some of the responsibility for service to the very poorest people has been passed on to the family, the market and voluntary organizations. This has been particularly visible in the fi eld of homelessness, where the voluntary organizations have acquired a new significance. In Sweden this is evident, for example, in the campaigns pursued by the voluntary organizations

throughout the 1990s, which attracted public attention with posters and pictures in advertisements showing the utter

misery of the homeless, with worn-out clothes and few belongings. The aim of the campaign was to collect money for work with the homeless. Pictures like these of poor

people in great need, designed by someone other than the poor themselves, go back a long way, based on old philanthropic strategies. The portrayal of destitution has provoked controversy and questioning, yet it has nevertheless survived. The article discusses the societal functions fulfi lled by these portrayals and why they can survive despite the criticism levelled against them.

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