ABSTRACT
The social mode of economic regulation (SMR) is conceived as an ensemble of norms, institutions, organisational forms, social networks and patterns of conduct which sustain and ‘guide’ a given economic regime. Inclusion within the sub-system of income-creating employment is a fundamental basis for all main Danish discourses on SMR. In the 1960s a hegemonic project was established in Denmark. To a very high degree the formative context was an unprecedented economic growth mainly promoted by what can be termed ‘the second Danish industrial revolution’. The Ministry claims that a ‘long lasting marginalisation of a large group of people may lead to social polarisation of the Danish population’. Some of the inspiration can be traced back to Thatcherism and Reaganism, the specific Danish version of the liberal project has a relatively ‘human face’. Classical Keynesian economic policy instruments were the dominant SMR, and neo-liberal discourses and workfare discourses were totally absent.
