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Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society Advance Access published online on February 26, 2008
Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, doi:10.1093/sp/jxn003
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Actualizing the "Democratic Family"? Swedish Policy Rhetoric versus Family Practices

Jenny Ahlberg, Christine Roman and Simon Duncan

In this article, we examine empirically a key element of individualization theory—the democratic family. We do so using the "acid test" of family policy, and family practice, in Sweden. First, we review the progress of family policy in Sweden since the 1960s, which has expressly promoted an agenda of gender equality and democracy in families, with individual autonomy for both adults and children as one key element. We then turn to family practice, looking particularly at negotiation and adult equality, lifelong parenting after separation, and children's autonomy. While Swedish policy makers and shapers seem to have developed the idea of the democratic family long before the sociologist Anthony Giddens, the results in practice have been more ambivalent. While there has been change, there is more adaptation to pre-existing gender and generational norms.


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