ABSTRACT
The focus of this analysis of the Swedish welfare system scrutinises the balance between the social service state and the social security state in Sweden in the mid-1980s after a decade of major concern about the future of the welfare state. This balance differs quite considerably between different Western welfare states – a few of them have large public consumption sectors, while the majority have more or less all-encompassing income maintenance schemes. The Swedish case represents an attempt to bring the two types together.
