New scientific ideas, professional specialization, anti-institutional action groups and increased tax burdens contributed to a wave of deinstitutionalization in Western Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand. Governments were faced with choices about who should be responsible for care: the state, the market, the family, or voluntary organizations? The decisions were shaped by party-political conflicts, not only around distribution issues, but also about how society at large should be organized: around individuals, or families.
The thesis contributes to our understanding of the relationship between science and policy making, and the multiple dimensions of party-political conflict that have shaped welfare policy over time.
External reviewer was Professor Julian Garritzmann, Goethe University Frankfurt.
More information about the thesis is available in the Lund University Research Portal